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Vista or 7 for gaming?

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Doc

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Apr 6, 2013, 8:49:57 PM4/6/13
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I'm currently running XP SP3, the game I play the most is Battlefield
Bad Company 2. Also have Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Running on a
Core2 Quad, MSI GTX 460 Cyclone video card, all under DX9 of course
since that's the max XP supports. Looks pretty decent to me. If I were
to go to Vista or 7 both of which support DX11, how much of a
difference do you think I'd see over my current O/S and DX version?
Looking at 1080p HD YouTube videos of these games running DX11 I can't
say I see a discernible difference.

If I were to go to a newer o/s to have access to newer games, would
you recommend Vista or 7? Gaming would be the only reason I'd need to
go with a different O/S. I'd still use XP for audio/video editing and
recording.

Thanks.

miso

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Apr 6, 2013, 9:04:01 PM4/6/13
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I'm lost here. Why would you use XP for anything? Or as you saying keep
it on an old computer and run win7 on a new computer?

Vista is dead. Use win7. I suspect win7 is the next XP. I don't see
businesses moving to win8.

I lack FPS mania. When I upgrade, I will get DirectX11 because why not,
but I suspect I won't be overwhelmed. If I were to go gonzo on gaming,
it would be with multiple monitors. A first person shooter would be much
more realistic if you had to use your peripheral vision.

Paul

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Apr 6, 2013, 10:23:29 PM4/6/13
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I would pick Windows 7. It's unclear how the transition from Windows 8
to Windows Blue (subscription) will be handled. Windows 8 was a good
choice, when the upgrade was only $39.95, but now that regular pricing
is in place, it's not worth anything.

The main reason for bumping the DX revision level, is to lock out the
old OSes. Back when Win2K went out of support, it wasn't too long before
game demos came out, where the game used a DX feature to check something
that only WinXP had. It had nothing to do with the game, but it stopped
the game from running. In one case, I followed some instructions on the
web, to comment out the check with a hex editor, and it worked. And the
game played just fine on Win2K. So the "OS check" was bogus, a red herring.
They'll do the same thing, when new games come out after the April 2014 drop
dead date for WinXP.

Paul

John Doe

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Apr 6, 2013, 11:12:01 PM4/6/13
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Paul <nospam needed.com> wrote:

> I would pick Windows 7. It's unclear how the transition from
> Windows 8 to Windows Blue (subscription) will be handled.

That sounds fishy. Ever since being keenly interested in the big
antitrust trial, from the start, I have always argued against the
idea that Microsoft faces serious competition, but things have
changed. I think Microsoft is going to be under some pressure from
ultra portable PC operating systems. Microsoft probably cannot sit
on its hands and suck money out of consumers. At the very least, it
will have to greatly increase the functionality of windows. If it
doesn't, the ever increasing functionality of ultra portable PCs
will threaten Microsoft. I suppose it would begin by software for
docking stations. Might take awhile, but initially they will
probably have drivers for most hardware. At that point, unless
windows is taking advantage of the larger and more powerful desktop
PC hardware, putting it to good use, it will be threatened.

If true, Windows being a subscription sounds like flailing.
Microsoft is probably just embarrassed that Apple's iPhone revenue
exceeds all of Microsoft's revenue combined.

Paul

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Apr 7, 2013, 1:47:24 AM4/7/13
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Adobe is moving to a subscription model. So it's the "in thing" right now.
And that's the most extreme example of this phenomenon I've seen. I just
can't believe this is working.

"Adobe subscription model gains traction"
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62629

Paul

Mr. Man-wai Chang

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Apr 7, 2013, 5:20:49 AM4/7/13
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> If I were to go to a newer o/s to have access to newer games, would
> you recommend Vista or 7? Gaming would be the only reason I'd need to
> go with a different O/S. I'd still use XP for audio/video editing and
> recording.

Win 7 is the best choice for speed, but Vi$ta should support old games
better. But then 64-bit Win 7 could run most old 32-bit games, like
Battlefield series.

Do you play 16-bit old DOS games?

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Mr. Man-wai Chang

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Apr 7, 2013, 5:21:56 AM4/7/13
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> Core2 Quad, MSI GTX 460 Cyclone video card, all under DX9 of course
> since that's the max XP supports. Looks pretty decent to me. If I were
> to go to Vista or 7 both of which support DX11, how much of a

You can manually install DirectX 9 in Vi$ta, Win 7 as well as Win 8.

Doc

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Apr 7, 2013, 7:14:23 AM4/7/13
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On Apr 7, 5:20 am, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toy...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Win 7 is the best choice for speed, but Vi$ta should support old games
> better. But then 64-bit Win 7 could run most old 32-bit games, like
> Battlefield series.
>
> Do you play 16-bit old DOS games?


No, mostly interested in FPS games on the order of Battlefied, Call Of
Duty etc.

Doc

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Apr 7, 2013, 7:16:14 AM4/7/13
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On Apr 7, 5:21 am, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toy...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> > Core2 Quad, MSI GTX 460 Cyclone video card, all under DX9 of course
> > since that's the max XP supports. Looks pretty decent to me. If I were
> > to go to Vista or 7 both of which support DX11, how much of a
>
> You can manually install DirectX 9 in Vi$ta, Win 7 as well as Win 8.


The whole point would be to go to a platform that supports newer
versions of DX since it supposedly yields better graphics.

John Doe

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Apr 7, 2013, 9:24:30 AM4/7/13
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Sounds like somebody started a rumor about "windows blue" after
overhearing only the first part of "blue screen of death".

Paul

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Apr 7, 2013, 10:10:27 AM4/7/13
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John Doe wrote:
> Sounds like somebody started a rumor about "windows blue" after
> overhearing only the first part of "blue screen of death".

This is what a Windows 8 blue screen looks like. So even that
isn't the same any more. This one is less useful. But pretty.
And we all know, when your PC is broken, it helps to have
a pretty picture on the screen, rather than useful info.

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/15448/

When I was experimenting with the preview versions of Windows 8,
I had a few crashes where the screen was completely black. Whereas,
I'm sure if it had been a previous OS, there would have been
a hex dump to look at. So the sad face screen, is for when things
are relatively controlled. If it can't make the sad face, it
might not attempt to display anything at all. You'd think they'd
have set it up to give a traditional blue screen, worst case.
(Sort of like, begging for mercy.)

As for the new business model, the next windows release will be
like a service pack for Windows 8. So you wouldn't expect it
to be a big change, design wise. And then there will effectively
be a yearly fee for your OS.

In the Apple model for this, you suddenly find with the applications
software, that your "old" OS won't install the new software, because
some part of it has mysteriously changed. I expect Microsoft will
be including this in their model. I keep hearing something about
.NET changing for example, so they may evolve things enough to require
OS upgrading, to make new apps work.

Paul

John Doe

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Apr 7, 2013, 5:19:42 PM4/7/13
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Paul <nospam needed.com> wrote:

> John Doe wrote:

>> Sounds like somebody started a rumor about "windows blue" after
>> overhearing only the first part of "blue screen of death".
>
> This is what a Windows 8 blue screen looks like. So even that
> isn't the same any more. This one is less useful. But pretty.
> And we all know, when your PC is broken, it helps to have
> a pretty picture on the screen, rather than useful info.
>
> http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/15448/

Have you ever enabled the hidden in administrator account, and had
to wait a very long time for it to be prepared (only to fail at the
end).

"Installing applications"...

"Getting things ready"...

"Almost there!"...

<BLINK>

"We're sorry. Windows has encountered a problem in needs to
close..."

Kidding. It doesn't BSOD (it shows a blank screen until I press a
key), but that would be fitting IMO.

Mr. Man-wai Chang

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Apr 8, 2013, 7:01:42 AM4/8/13
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On 7/04/2013 19:14, Doc wrote:
>> Win 7 is the best choice for speed, but Vi$ta should support old games
>> better. But then 64-bit Win 7 could run most old 32-bit games, like
>> Battlefield series.
>
> No, mostly interested in FPS games on the order of Battlefied, Call Of
> Duty etc.
>

64-bit Win 7 should work with them. You could always verify my claim by
downloading and installing the Enterprise Evaluation ISO.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx

If you didn't mind re-installing Win 7 every 30*4 days, you could just
use this version of Win 7 free-of-charge! :)

--
@~@ Remain silent. Nothing from soldiers and magicians is real!
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (Fedora 18 i686) Linux 3.8.5-201.fc18.i686
^ ^ 18:57:02 up 7 min 0 users load average: 0.00 0.25 0.22

Mr. Man-wai Chang

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Apr 8, 2013, 7:02:49 AM4/8/13
to
On 7/04/2013 19:16, Doc wrote:
>> You can manually install DirectX 9 in Vi$ta, Win 7 as well as Win 8.
>
> The whole point would be to go to a platform that supports newer
> versions of DX since it supposedly yields better graphics.
>

Micro$oft hasn't given up DirectX 9 anytime yet. I also like many old
Win 95/98 games and haven't completed them. :)

--
@~@ Remain silent. Nothing from soldiers and magicians is real!
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (Fedora 18 i686) Linux 3.8.5-201.fc18.i686
^ ^ 18:57:02 up 7 min 0 users load average: 0.00 0.25 0.22

miso

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Apr 8, 2013, 6:27:39 PM4/8/13
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On 4/8/2013 4:01 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
> On 7/04/2013 19:14, Doc wrote:
>>> Win 7 is the best choice for speed, but Vi$ta should support old games
>>> better. But then 64-bit Win 7 could run most old 32-bit games, like
>>> Battlefield series.
>>
>> No, mostly interested in FPS games on the order of Battlefied, Call Of
>> Duty etc.
>>
>
> 64-bit Win 7 should work with them. You could always verify my claim by
> downloading and installing the Enterprise Evaluation ISO.
>
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx
>
> If you didn't mind re-installing Win 7 every 30*4 days, you could just
> use this version of Win 7 free-of-charge! :)
>

Thanks for the link. I always wanted to play with virtualization, but
didn't want MS sniffing my legal copy of windows and making me
reauthorize it. If I could get decent results virtualizing win8, I
assume virtualizing my legal copy of win7 should be just as easy.

Darklight

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Apr 9, 2013, 8:42:16 AM4/9/13
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Do you play battlefield 2 bad company in sigle or multiplayer mode?
Concerning OS you may as well go with windows 8 I play battlefield 3
planetside, medal of honour warfighter in windows 8 without any problems.
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