XP vs Vista on MacBook Pro for Gaming...

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I use the Windows side of my MB Pro for gaming and I am restricted to 3GB by the 32 bit version of XP, however, I am thinking of going to the 64 bit Vista Ultimate since I have the discs for it.
1) Will the 64 bit version of Vista allow me to have my 4GB of memory?
2) Will my games still run as fast or will they slow down?
 
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I use the Windows side of my MB Pro for gaming and I am restricted to 3GB by the 32 bit version of XP, however, I am thinking of going to the 64 bit Vista Ultimate since I have the discs for it.
1) Will the 64 bit version of Vista allow me to have my 4GB of memory?

Yes. Here's an interesting article about the different versions of Vista and the maximum amount of RAM that each supports.


2) Will my games still run as fast or will they slow down?

Depends. Chances are they will be slower. Some may be subject to audio issues (see provided reading material below). Some may not work at all. Here's some reading material for the many ups and downs of Vista in general, and 64-bit Vista more specifically.
http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00001.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=640618
 
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In short, stick with XP for gaming simply because it uses fewer system resources to run compared to Vista, resources that can be put toward the game rather than the OS.
 
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^ i'm with kash. I've installed and run a partition dedicated to gaming, and XP is a much better choice. Vista hogs valuable resources and requires 10x more disc space! Totally unnecessary if you ask me.
 
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Ditto on XP. I was running a game in XP and was getting about 110 FPS. After switching over to Vista it went down to 70 FPS. It was obvious Vista sucking up extra resources was dragging the game down.
 
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What drivers are you guys using? I just got my 17 inch MBP, and under XP the video performance was absolutely deplorable with the original driver. I then found the driver mac released in December I believe. It was gobs better, but still a far cry from where the performance of this hardware should be.

I was seeing 10-12 fps in Crysis with the newer driver. All setting on High and the resolution set to 1680 x 1050. So if I may ask, what driver are you guys running.

Thanks
 
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I have a new MBP with a 8600M GT and found no difference in performance running xp or vista and benchmarking it with 3dmark 06, Not sure if there will be able real world difference when running games, but either way I couldn't find any.

Go with what ever suits your budget I am currently running Vista on my bootcamp partition since its the latest and , need to learn how to use and troubleshoot it for my job anyway.
 
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What drivers are you guys using? I just got my 17 inch MBP, and under XP the video performance was absolutely deplorable with the original driver. I then found the driver mac released in December I believe. It was gobs better, but still a far cry from where the performance of this hardware should be.

I was seeing 10-12 fps in Crysis with the newer driver. All setting on High and the resolution set to 1680 x 1050. So if I may ask, what driver are you guys running.

Thanks

While it's nice that Apple provides drivers to get people up and running with Windows on their Intel Macs, the reality is once you are up and running, there is NO NEED to keep using Apple's drivers for Windows. Get the latest and greatest direct from your graphics card maker.

You can also get drivers from 3rd-party sources that tweak the originals and add extra options. Check out OmegaDrivers and LaptopVideo2Go for example.
 
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Well, if your MBP was made in '08 then it should have no problem supporting x64 Vista or XP. If not, then you are out of luck unfortunately. One huge advantage of running Vista over XP is DirectX 10 support. I have heard a few people say that it works flawlessly using MBP's.
 
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Not too long after posting that message I did try Notebook forums newest Mobileforce driver. It seems to work 100% better, however heat quickly becomes an issue when gaming. Within 10 minutes Crycis went from 48 fps at 1680 x 1050 to nearly 15 fps and the laptop was unbearable to touch. However, it is showing promise.
 
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Not too long after posting that message I did try Notebook forums newest Mobileforce driver. It seems to work 100% better, however heat quickly becomes an issue when gaming. Within 10 minutes Crycis went from 48 fps at 1680 x 1050 to nearly 15 fps and the laptop was unbearable to touch. However, it is showing promise.

Yah... be aware that some of those 3rd-party tweaks do include overclocking the GPU. That can be a very dangerous thing to do in a laptop especially. You may want to look into getting a dock of some sort that can help cool your laptop some.
 
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Way ahead of you :) And actually unless the tweaked driver specifically says it overclocks the GPU, it does not. I have used many of thee tweaked drivers over the years. I can personally vouch for the MobileForce drivers. Tony is a top notch guy who knows his stuff. As for the heat issues, I currently have 3 of my distributors trying to locate me a nice 17 inch laptop cooler.

But man is OSX fun to play with :)
 
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Mac - Vista - Windows 7 Funny video

Before thinking of Vista or Windows 7, you will have to look at this video. It will make you roll on the ground from laughing, and could have a great buzz effect :).


Too Late MS Windows 7 - Video


Enjoy,
Erick
 

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