Vista or 7 RC for Gaming Rig?

[Spartan Erik]

I currently have a machine with a 3.0 GHz C2D 6 MB L2, 3 GB of RAM, and a GTX 260. It has Vista Basic as of now, and I'm not sure whether I want to do a clean install of Vista or the 7 release candidate.

The games I have installed right now are COD:WAW, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Mirror's Edge, and various Steam games (L4D, HL2, etc.), and I run these at native 1080p. I looked at the thread regarding games that work, and it looks like all my games will be fine. I just don't know about the performance comparisons between Vista and 7, so whatever recommendations you all have will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello and Welcome to the Se7enforums! Spartan Erik

I have a good feeling that all those that downed Vista and raved about XP being better for gaming will be in for a big surprize. You may want to look over the article titled posted on the other thread started by another member. http://www.sevenforums.com/news/18272-windows-7-will-give-boost-pc-hardware.html

For trying out one of the 7 RCs even both before 7 is released on 10/22 you have until August 20th to download either or both directly from Microsoft. That would give you the opportunity to get familiar with the next version free of charge as well as allowing you a first hand comparison.

Another option to consider if you have the drive space available would be considering a dual boot of both Vista and 7. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5166-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-vista.html

 

[Spartan Erik]

Thanks for the welcome Night Hawk! Fortunately I secured my copy of the RC the day it was released.

I have done dual-booting in the past with other operating systems, but I still would rather prefer having a single primary OS on one partition. I plan on getting 7 when it becomes available at a reduced price for us college students, but until then I'm still debating whether I want 7 now or wait with Vista

 

[dan7777]

oh man ive run vista and now im running win 7 rtm and in everyway win 7 rtm really does rock in games with your card i got same card gtx260-216 also if you play new games get the 190.40 drivers gives a good boost in latest games. win 7 win win in everyway ditch vista and go win 7 you won"t be dissapointed. All the games you have stated i have and they work brilliantly.

 

[Spartan Erik]

All the games you have stated i have and they work brilliantly.

Well I read that Punkbuster was having issues with the RC, and I'm not sure if they have been resolved.

If I do use Windows 7, should I use the RC or download an RTM?

 

[dan7777]

Well I read that Punkbuster was having issues with the RC, and I'm not sure if they have been resolved.

If I do use Windows 7, should I use the RC or download an RTM?

Well.... thats abit of a silly question RTM mate oh! i don"t use punkbuster so i don"t know hopefully someone will be able to tell you soon. found a thread on here about punkbuster its good news take a peek.... http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/572-punkbuster-60.html

 

[billdo]

Well I read that Punkbuster was having issues with the RC, and I'm not sure if they have been resolved.

If I do use Windows 7, should I use the RC or download an RTM?

The Punkbuster issue might already be fixed if not it will be by Official release.

There is a simple fix though.The punkbuster.exe files just need to be copied and pasted to a different folder.I can't remember exactly which folder, but a simple google search should help.I researched for a friend and it fixed the problem.

Here is another fix to update punkbuster so it will work with W7.Someone posted this for BF2 (but I'm sure it will work for all Punkbuster games) at neowin:

1. Right click on the BF2 shortcut on desktop and click properties, (im sure your not a noob since you have windows 7 beta) so set your admin privileges to full control for bf2 and make sure you have "run as administrator" checked.

2. Right click on the shortcut on the desktop and click open file location and then do the same admin privileges on the actual BF2.exe

3. Last most important step, I think Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 somehow dont allow Punkbuster update under Windows 7 so you have to do it manually.

Go to this link and download PBSetup:
http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php

Install it and select your game and update Punkbuster through that program.

 

[Hedrush]

Punkbuster fixed it a couple of days ago, cod4 actually works now with no random kicking.

 

[Spartan Erik]

Punkbuster fixed it a couple of days ago, cod4 actually works now with no random kicking.

Ah well that's good to know, hopefully I don't get random kicks in COD:WAW

With the RTM though, I will only have 120 days to use it via re-arming, correct?

 

[zigzag3143]

Legally yes.

ken

 

[dan7777]

Ah well that's good to know, hopefully I don't get random kicks in COD:WAW

With the RTM though, I will only have 120 days to use it via re-arming, correct?

thats correct 4 months all together.

 

[Night Hawk]

Well I read that Punkbuster was having issues with the RC, and I'm not sure if they have been resolved.

If I do use Windows 7, should I use the RC or download an RTM?

The RC was made public by MS directly there over any leaked evaluation copies provided to software developers since often some won't install or run on them. I'll simply be running the RCs here until 7 is out to avoid running into problems like that or someone stuffing a bug or two into something.

 

[Spartan Erik]

Well I went with the RC, and I currently have Section 8, COD:WAW, and L4D working just fine. My gpu temps are about 8 degrees higher, I imagine this is due to transparency and other visual fx I had disabled in Vista. It's alright since I just jack up my fans a little more when I game, and it all evens out.

Thanks for the comments guys! Now to look up threads on optimizing windows 7..