Poll: WinXP vs Win7

[OvS 8]

I'm tossing this poll on the forum for a few reasons. It will help us see how many users are getting into using Win7 with OFF, the version of Win7 or XP you are running, and finally, for my own info as I am considering upgrading to Win7 Pro64 from XP Pro. I left out Vista as... well.... for pretty obvious reasons.

 

Again, with anything OS related, there is fear that nothing will work, crashes, instability... basically everything Vista.

 

This past March, I built a new PC with the intent to eventually unlock it's potential with the new OS. So now it's time to look further into it and I need your opinions, plus we can see where the populous is heading with the PC's that OFF are running on.

 

Other than using my PC to make skins, I mostly fly 2 sims ... FSX and OFF... other than that, COD, and BIA are on the top of the list. So speed and performance mean a lot. I have a Quad Core i7 920, 3 GB of RAM, and a single XFX GTX260 Nvidia video card but am considering a 2nd to SLI.

 

Please feel free to give your opinion on the subject and post your personal findings with OFF performance and any other titles you mostly use.... it'll only help.

 

Thanks,

 

OvS

 

---- added Vista...

Edited December 1, 2009 by OvS

[Siggi 10]

There's little to choose between W7 and XP-Pro in terms of general OFF performance, but my FFB and FRAPS do not work as well in W7 as they did in XP.

[almccoyjr 7]

From what I've read about W7 PRO, I'll be migrating to it but not before MS has released the first service patch.

 

plug_nickel (Al)

[Siggi 10]

I know I'd appreciate a rock solid answer, as to the support of Force Feedback. Because my current rig in XP Home, leaves much room for video performance improvement. However if it means doing without

Force Feedback in OFF, I'll just keep pluging along as is.

 

Siggi has mentioned that with Windows 7 . . 32 Bit, Force Feedback is non-existant

 

So then my only chance at grabbing the brass ring is Windows 7 . . . 64 Bit ?????????????

 

It's not non-existent, it's full-on in the back position (full up-elevator).

[Bullethead 12]

Right now I have Vista 32, which ain't on the above list.

 

I plan to get Win7 64 sometime next year, when the initial batch of bugs have been squashed, the drivers have been fine-tuned, and I buy a new computer.

[carrick58 23]

I use XP-pro but, I will consider Win 7 next summer or Xmas. Dont really understand all the computer

lingo For Example, a 2nd to SLI ? I can get along without force feedback but, not Fraps or OFF

[Von Paulus 8]

Like I've stated in another thread in my particular case OFF is running better in Win7 (x86) than in my XP (x86).

Hereis my system:

Asus P5B-Deluxe // E8500 @ 3.16 // 2x KHX6400D2/2G // Asus 4890 1GB Voltage Tweaker // Creatve Audigy 2 Platinium // HD WD5000AAKS // HD SG Barracuda 7200.12 // HD WD1001FALS // LC-POWER HYPERION 700W // Artic Freezer Pro 7// Antec TX1050B // Win XP SP3 and Cat. 9.11 // Win 7 (32b) and Cat 9.11

[OvS 8]

Right now I have Vista 32, which ain't on the above list.

 

I plan to get Win7 64 sometime next year, when the initial batch of bugs have been squashed, the drivers have been fine-tuned, and I buy a new computer.

 

 

Bullet,

 

I purposely omitted it from the poll as it's not a well-liked system, although that's not speaking for everyone out there, but the general consensus has not been very good.

 

Most are jumping from XP to W7, as they held-out from Vista (like me).

[hairyspin 1]

Just to muddy the waters, I have - and use - both XP Pro 32-bit and Win7 64-bit on separate drives. I really like Win7, but some of the tools I use don't work with Win7 (or Vista).

 

In particular, the .MOS editor for CFS3 needs Managed DirectX, so only XP will do to develop scenery and damage effects for CFS3/OFF.

[Mr_Dirt 1]

XP Pro 32 bit here considering Win 7 after the first service pack. How is the Nova Going?

[Macklroy 2]

Unfortuneatly I'm in the 'Vista' category. Yaaaaaa

[OvS 8]

Interesting stuff guys. I'm on the same page. I always find out afterwards what I lost, but at this point in the game, I don't do much with my PC anymore other than simming and skinning. Then again, I do a graphics presentation for my wife, but that's about it.

 

So I guess I'll hold back the same until SP1 on Win7 comes out. I'd just like to see how much faster my PC beccomes having an O/S that uses the technology properly. I know XP 32 isn't as my PC really isn't that much faster than it was before I upgraded it. But I blame the OS bottlenecking the PC.

 

Dirt... as for the Nova... well... she's totally stripped now and I am having a killer time trying to find a good restoration shop that won't cost me a 2nd mortage and my right arm here in Long Island. I'm finding that everyone talks a good line... but no one shows up for work. So until her metal is cleaned up, and primed... she's not going anywhere.

 

Most recent addition was the front disc package, and 15"x4" Cragars on the front! I wish I knew how to work metal and do body repairs myself. Other than that, I'm OK with everything esle.

 

OvS

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Well, I am still on WinXP Pro 32....And will stay with it as long as I have to.

Once the first 'Big Game' comes out which isnt supported by XP, I will think again...but Vista was so awful...I am nervous to say the least!...That said, Win 7 is looking good...but still on the fence

[Bullethead 12]

I purposely omitted it from the poll as it's not a well-liked system, although that's not speaking for everyone out there, but the general consensus has not been very good.

 

Most are jumping from XP to W7, as they held-out from Vista (like me).

 

I have to disagree. Remember, I make PC sims for a living, too. I know that the majority of my customers have Vista 32, closely followed by those with Vista 64. In any case, Vista in whichever form is the vast bulk of my customer base. A few diehards still have XP but those with Win7 are rapidly catching up and I expect them to outnumber the XPers by the end of this year (as in 31 days from now), and become the majority over Vista by the end of next year at the latest (personally, I'm betting on September 2010). Needless to say, the last thing we want to do as a small indy is support 3 disparate OSes, so we're hoping for a speedy death for XP. I sure won't mourn it.

 

This forum is the only stronghold of XP holdhouts that I've encountered in the last year or 2. Granted, this forum is important to you all at OBD because it's a significant fraction, and definitely the most vocal faction, of your customers. But let's face facts here. As we all know from bitter and expensive experience going back a couple of decades, the service life of a gaming rig worthy of the name is only about 2-3 years, depending on how much you spend originally and how much you spend to upgrade it over its short life. That's if you're serious about simming, but only the serious simmers buy either of our products. So, Vista has been out 2 years and 10 months to the day as we speak. Thus, practically every serious gamer still playing games on a PC (as opposed to a console) has bought a new rig since Vista came out. And damn near every new rig purchased in the last 2 years and 10 months has come with Vista. I'm willing to go all-in with just the last 2 years, and leave the odd 10 months to the period where you had a choice between XP and Vista, even conceding those who preferred XP but went with Vista because they knew which way the wind was blowing. Remember, we're talking sim (aka performance) junkies here.

 

Bottom line, I submit that the only folks still clinging to XP are those who are either too broke to have bought a new system in the last 2 years and 10 months, or are among the tiny and steadily shrinking number of customers who build their "new" systems around their old HD with whatever OS it has, biting the bullet on its inability to maximize performace with their new, high-dollar hardware. But even these folks will, within a matter of months, have to break down and buy a Win7 machine. There's no escaping the march of technology and the planned obselescence of old stuff. Us devs can't hold back the advance of technology, but have to keep coming out with new features to exploit the new hardware. Otherwise we go out of business. This forces our customers to buy the new technology to play our games. As we all here should know by now.

 

All that aside, I have to admit that I've used Vista for the past 1.5 years, and like it WAY better than XP. Sure, it's got its problems, but it's so much better than XP in so many ways that I can't understand at all the fear of it amongst folks here.

[Von Paulus 8]

And damn near every new rig purchased in the last 2 years and 10 months has come with Vista.

That's not my personal experience. In fact only half a dozen people went to my shop and asked Vista for their new rig. And only one was a gamer (I remember quite well because it was the only Vista 64 bits that I sold). All the others asked me to build their machines with XP installed. And notebooks... A lot of people (great majority) told me that they would only buy the notebook if I could change it to XP.

Now with Win7's arrivals the tide is turning quickly. Due to the growing myth that is bug less people now only want Win7 and not XP.

Edited December 1, 2009 by Von Paulus

[Bullethead 12]

That's not my personal experience. In fact only half a dozen people went to my shop and asked Vista for their new rig. And only one was a gamer (I remember quite well because it was the only Vista 64 bits that I sold). All the others asked me to build their machines with XP installed. And notebooks... A lot of people (great majority) told me that they would only buy the notebook if I could change it to XP.

Now for Win7 it's a completely different matter. Due to the growing myth that is bug less people are looking for Win7 and not XP anymore.

 

I take it you run a shop that builds custom rigs? OK, I can see where you're coming from. But I submit that a far greater number of folks buy from Best Buy, Dell, or whatever, where their choice of OS is far more limited. Just because somebody's a serious simmer doesn't make him a serious hardware guru. So he reads the reviews, which naturally are only on commonly available systems and compenents, and buys something off the shelf.

 

All I can say is what my tech support tells me. And Vista is by far the most-common OS out there.

[Guest Eject]

There's little to choose between W7 and XP-Pro in terms of general OFF performance, but my FFB and FRAPS do not work as well in W7 as they did in XP.

 

Forgive my disagreement with u on this, kindly read the post I just posted minutes ago. It deals with the "capacity" of WIN7 64bit v XP Pro whatever Patch (mine being Patch 2, no way using Patch 3 as it is very INTRUSIVE, mining the whole contents of our HDD unless we disable the Firewall) to read the RAM/SDRAM. I would not recommend anyone installing a Maximum RAM/SDRAM (of 4MB or 8MB) when using an XP Pro as it will read the Max 4MB as only 3MB.

 

Two "computer guys" have informed me of this issue. Thanks, I may be wrong on this. I shall appreciate any feedbacks from those who REALLY are familiar with said issues.

 

I am currently using an XP Pro SP2 which is OK in an ACER lame-duck with only shred NVIDIA of 224KB VRAM, and 1.5MB RAM. I have no serious problem with the frame rate, quite respectble when playing my WOE with 6 diff Tarrains. I am considering to migrate to WIN7.

 

BTW, has any members or Guests here ever been using the OpenSource OS like the LINUX, and if we can play WOx with it? Thanks guys....

Edited December 1, 2009 by Eject

[Von Paulus 8]

But I submit that a far greater number of folks buy from Best Buy, Dell, or whatever, where their choice of OS is far more limited. Just because somebody's a serious simmer doesn't make him a serious hardware guru.

I'll speak again the reality I know. All the serious simmer's that I know never bought a HP or a Dell computer. They want good performance and prefer to spend a little more and have a more powerful / balanced system.

Like I've told you that's the reality I've always known in Portugal. Maybe it's local.

I've nothing against Dell or HP machines, they are designed to work well and usually work very well. For my office I bought an HP, they are really reliable. Only they are not really so powerful for CAD, Video or PC gaming.

[Von Paulus 8]

I would not recommend anyone installing a Maximum RAM/SDRAM (of 4MB or 8MB) when using an XP Pro as it will read the Max 4MB as only 3MB.

The same happens with Vista (32) and Win7 (32).

Only the 64bits OS can address more than 3GB directly. And yes, Windows XP Pro (64) can adress more than 3GB.

[VonGuber 2]

 

<snip>

 

Bottom line, I submit that the only folks still clinging to XP are those who are either too broke to have bought a new system in the last 2 years and 10 months, or are among the tiny and steadily shrinking number of customers who build their "new" systems around their old HD with whatever OS it has, biting the bullet on its inability to maximize performace with their new, high-dollar hardware. But even these folks will, within a matter of months, have to break down and buy a Win7 machine. There's no escaping the march of technology and the planned obselescence of old stuff. Us devs can't hold back the advance of technology, but have to keep coming out with new features to exploit the new hardware. Otherwise we go out of business. This forces our customers to buy the new technology to play our games. As we all here should know by now.

 

All that aside, I have to admit that I've used Vista for the past 1.5 years, and like it WAY better than XP. Sure, it's got its problems, but it's so much better than XP in so many ways that I can't understand at all the fear of it amongst folks here.

 

Not necessarily, my copper-clad-craniumed colleague,

 

I just built myself a new rig, and spent a substantial amount on hardware. But, for me, it was worth the extra few dollars for an OEM copy of XP pro 32 bit.

I look at it as a temporary measure, until MS gets W7 serviced and stable enough to suit me. I don't really like living through the early days of new operating systems...anyone remember Windows ME?. I tried Vista on my wife's machine, and didn't like it at all, so having a known, stable OS seemed a good compromise until I move to W7. I also want to keep some of the software I use regularly that doesn't like the new systems and didn't want a Vista learning curve closely followed by a 7 learning curve. That said, I've already got a new HD ready for W7 when the time comes,...meantime I'm doing fine with 3GB of ram even though I look forward to more. Just another perspective...

[OvS 8]

I take it you run a shop that builds custom rigs? OK, I can see where you're coming from. But I submit that a far greater number of folks buy from Best Buy, Dell, or whatever, where their choice of OS is far more limited. Just because somebody's a serious simmer doesn't make him a serious hardware guru. So he reads the reviews, which naturally are only on commonly available systems and compenents, and buys something off the shelf.

 

All I can say is what my tech support tells me. And Vista is by far the most-common OS out there.

 

I have it installed on my wife's laptop, and I despise it. Are you sure you want to delete this.. are you really sure... ok, are you positive??

 

PS... I added Vista in respect to your input as it is quite true what you are saying, and I did base it on the overall consensus of us from the past few years. Not really fair to new guys and Vista users...

 

OvS

[Tamper 9]

Yeah, I have to take serious exception as well, Bullethead.

 

I wouldn't take Vista if you gave it to me. And I am neither unable to afford it (I actually bought a copy), nor did I build a new system around an old drive's "inability to maximize performace" (give us a little credit...doing that would be stupid).

 

I run XP because in my (educated and experienced) opinion, it's just better, period. And this place is not (by far - and I do mean far) the only online forum that features 'hold-outs' for XP. I know at least as many people who elected to skip Vista altogether, as I do those who (forgive me) fell for it.

 

Like many others, I will be running XP until at least SP1 for W7 is released, and (possibly) as was mentioned above, until the first 'big game' comes along that just won't run on it.

 

(and yes, I did precisely the same thing with XP, while running 98SE quite happily).

Edited December 1, 2009 by Tamper

[rabu 9]

I've got XP Pro SP3 at home and have had very few problems with it.

At work I was the buyer for our computers for our now showroom and found some great deals on some Dell's A couple of laptops and a desktop that I use for graphics work (they all include free upgrades to Windows 7). The desktop has Vista 64bit and I began to find out how incompatible it is with non current programs. I couldn't use my two year old image browser on it, had to update that. I also had planned on running my Photoshop CS2 at work and at home (that's legal as long as you don't use them at the same time). I found out that CS2 is not Vista 64 compatible, so I ended up buying CS3 and installing it on both computers, then sold the CS2 version on Ebay. You have to deactivate it first before selling it or the next owner will not be able to run it. Anyway, I found that many older programs are apparently not compatible with Vista 64, but I've heard Windows 7 64 will be much better.. I'm going to wait to see too.

[Bullethead 12]

I'll speak again the reality I know. All the serious simmer's that I know never bought a HP or a Dell computer. They want good performance and prefer to spend a little more and have a more powerful / balanced system.

Like I've told you that's the reality I've always known in Portugal. Maybe it's local.

I've nothing against Dell or HP machines, they are designed to work well and usually work very well. For my office I bought an HP, they are really reliable. Only they are not really so powerful for CAD, Video or PC gaming.

 

I don't doubt you're honestly reporting what you've seen. But I've seen what I've seen.

 

All I can say is that Vista has gotten a far worse reputation than it deserves, and is much more common than many folks here would like to admit. As I said, this forum is the last and strongest bastion of XP I'm aware of. Sure, Vista's got problems, but they're nowhere near as bad as rumor makes them seem. Vista is in fact a substantial improvement in many ways over XP, and has served me well for a long time. Given the choice, I'd pick Vista over XP. And I'll surely be on Win7in the near future.

 

It's true that some things that ran under XP won't run under Vista, and even fewer XP things will run under Win7. But IMHO that's not a reason to cling to XP as your main OS, anymore than hanging onto Win95 was for running DOS apps. Get an emulator.

 

Now, I agree that WW1 flightsims worthy of the name are few and far between. However, if OBD chooses to keep OFF shackled to XP instead of moving with the times, then OFF's days are numbered. XP is ancient, it hasn't been supported in a long time, and is now 2 generations old. It was good while it lasted by it's gone gone gone.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Like many others, I will be running XP until at least SP1 for W7 is released, and (possibly) as was mentioned above, until the first 'big game' comes along that just won't run on it.

 

Ditto!