Microsoft has listed the following requirements for what they call a
Vista Premium Ready PC. A PC that meets or exceeds these requirements will be able to use the new Aero technologies.
[7]
- Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Enterprise (Aero is not available in Windows Vista Home Basic / Windows 7 starter. Windows 7 Home Basic's Aero doesn't have the glass effects)
- a 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 GB of system memory (512MB sometimes works)
- a DirectX 9 compatible graphics processor with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Pixel shader 2.0 in hardware, and a minimum of 128 MB of Video RAM
- 32 bits per pixel
- 40 GB hard drive with 15 GB free space
- DVD-ROM Drive
- Audio output and Internet access (preferably broadband)
The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors include the
Radeon 9500 from
ATI Technologies, the
GeForce FX series from
NVIDIA, and even the
Intel GMA 950.
Intel GMA 900 theoretically supports Aero as it fulfills all hardware requirements but Intel does not offer a WDDM driver, therefore making it incompatible. Though the last driver from NVIDIA to support the GeForce FX series on Vista was 96.85
[1],
[8] Microsoft's WDDM drivers for NVIDIA graphics continue to support the GeForce FX series;
[9] NVIDIA's current WDDM drivers support the
GeForce 6 and later series. Though some of
XGI Technology's Volari GPUs supported DirectX 9, no Microsoft WDDM drivers shipped with Vista and XGI has exited the graphics card business, so Volari cards apparently will not work with Windows Aero.
Note that though Microsoft has listed 128 MB of
Video RAM as a requirement for "Premium Ready" PCs, it does not mean a 128 MB
integrated graphics processor is required to run the Aero glass theme. A 64 MB integrated graphics processor, combined with at least 1 GB of system memory, will be able to run Aero at certain resolutions, however, the visual effects will be slower and less smooth.
[10] However, a Vista-specific WDDM driver for any given graphics processor is also required to run the Aero glass theme;
[11] these drivers may or may not be available. Users who believe their hardware meets Aero's minimum graphics requirements are encouraged to check their graphics processor manufacturer's website for a Vista-specific driver if they are unable to run the theme. More
Windows Aero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
