Vista's performance vs. XP's

I've been browsing around on these forums for awhile now and I haven't quite been able to hunt down the answers I need, so I figured I would go ahead and create a thread of my own.

I recently purchased the mid-level macbook pro.

Here are my system specs-
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory (uprgrading to 4GB soon)
250GB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB

Now I plan to dual-boot with either Windows XP or Vista, but I haven't been able to decide on which OS to install. I plan to use windows for two main purposes, to use 3Ds Max and play games. Now it's important to note that I am majoring in Simulation and Digital Entertainment (Video game design and animation), so 3Ds Max should be my main focus, although I can't deny the allure of getting some game time in in-between classes and what-not.

I've spent some time looking over the benchmarks for Vista vs. XP and have found that Vista tends to run slower than XP when it comes to running high-end applications and games. However, from what I understand, running under boot camp XP with SP2 will only utilize 2GB of RAM while Vista with utilize all 4GB (once I upgrade that is). So my question is this, will that extra 2GB of RAM make up the performance difference if I go with Vista?

Another concern of mine is that it seems a lot of new games coming out for windows run exclusively on Vista and will not run on XP. So it seems to me if I go with XP based upon better performances, in the long run I'll get shafted in terms of compatibility.

I would also like to hear your opinions on which OS you think would better suit my needs.

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

One year ago, the MacBook Pro was rated by PC World as the fastest Windows Vista notebook available. The current models can only be better. So, while you likely will still see a performance hit running Vista vs. XP, you can take solace in knowing that you can't do better.

BTW... from what I've read, XP will address up to 3GB of RAM, not just 2.

Oh yes, before you decide to try or buy Vista, you should read this article first:

Report: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘security’ rendered completely useless by new ‘unfixable’ exploit

Thanks for the response lifeisabeach.

You're probably correct about the ram thing, it's been awhile since I read the article on that.

As for the security issue, that is a big concern. I always had a feeling someone was going to exploit vista's security flaws in a big way. It was bound to happen anyway.

There's also another thing that's been eating at my brain in choosing between XP and Vista. While Vista supports DirectX 10.0 and is mandatory for a lot of new PC games such as Crysis, you're always going to have compatibility issues with older games such as Sam and Max Season 1, however these issues can be resolved later through patches and the like. Meanwhile Vista only games are never going to be able to run on XP. Which makes me want to go ahead and opt for Vista, despite my udder distaste for it.

I also seem to remember reading something about Vista having some kind of issue with OpenGL, can anyone here confirm, deny or clarify this for me?