Gaming on Vista using 2GB RAM

[AKJ]

Just wondering if anyone experienced poor performance running the latest games on Vista with 2GB RAM?

I might "upgrade" to Vista soon, so im just trying to find out if my 2GB RAM is enough.

 

[mad_murdock]

I've played a fair amount of games under Vista (BF2, BF2142, C&C3, FEAR, HL2:EP1, Supreme Commander. Doom3, Prey) and overall the performance has been fine. The ram usage is only about 200 MB more than XP and with games like Supreme Commander, whether I play under XP or Vista, I still hit around 85% memory usage.

The OpenGL games are about 15-20 fps slower than under XP, but I'm still in the 100s, so it doesn't really matter.

BF2 seems to occasicanlly have this problem and I think it ties in to the Superfetch feature, where it will start stuutering really bad for about 15-25 secs. When I watch the new Resource Monitor, it shows that the Common_Client.zip and Objects_Client.zip. are being read fairly heavily. I'm not sure if this is because of punkbuster or not, as I don't get it everytime I play or on every server. But it only happens every so often, normally at the start of the map. I played for about 2 hours straight one night and it happened about 5 times, with the longest time being around 1 minute, annoying, but hardly a show stopper. Funny enough, I've played BF1942 and 2142 and I don't get that.

Personally if I was you, I'd wait a little longer, since you have a nVidia card. nVidia drivers are still struggling for some people. So you might play perfectly fine or you might fine that your game(s) are having issues. Tiger Woods Golf 2007 seems to be one of the worst one. Different people in the FEAR forums report different problems\results.

I have an ATI card and so far, the drivers (except for the 7.3s) have been great. Looking in the EA forums, the people who can play TW 07 are the ATI owners. Though it does seem most of the really bad problems are with the 8800 series. I have a 6800GT system and haven't seen any issues so far (though I don't game on that system as much).

Anyways, back to your main question. 2GB of ram is still fine for gaming, even under Vista. In the big picture, the memory usage isn't that much different than XP

Side note, I triple boot between Vista32, Vista64 and XP32

 

[AKJ]

OK, cool. Hmm... Maybe i should just stick with XP. Id love to play around with Vista etc, but i dont have the patience to deal with issues related to compatibility, etc.

 

[notherdude]

OK, cool. Hmm... Maybe i should just stick with XP. Id love to play around with Vista etc, but i dont have the patience to deal with issues related to compatibility, etc.

Dual boot! Vista is a fresh and fun change from many years of XP.

 

[Guest]

it runs fine man. i have 2gb and i play gmaes in vista. but memory prices are so low now that i am going to throw in 1gb more

 

[Track]

Just wondering if anyone experienced poor performance running the latest games on Vista with 2GB RAM?

I might "upgrade" to Vista soon, so im just trying to find out if my 2GB RAM is enough.

2GB not enough? Are u crazy??

 

[bullaRh]

oh yeah its damn fun getting 20 less fps :lol: and hell yeah throw some DRM in the back of my head also :lol:

 

[AKJ]

OK, can anyone summurize their gripes with Vitsa?

 

[petevsdrm]

OK, can anyone summurize their gripes with Vitsa?

I used vista for a month or so, until I switched back to XP. There were several annoying driver problems, but none that would cause me to switch. A lot of companies have ironed out their drivers now anyway.

With the glaring exception of nVidia.

I could not run any game, or even run my desktop at my native resolution of 1920x1080. I had to go to 1360x768, which is a huge step down. After waiting a month or so for them to fix the problem, I switched back to XP, and here I will stay until Vista has some more time to mature.

As a side note, it is a pretty operating system, and fun to use. I'll definitely enjoy using it when the bugs are worked out.

 

[Guest]

it's the same thing all over again. when xp was launched. you get less framerate bla bla. but guess what everybody is using xp now. same thing with vista wait few months you will need vista for directx 10 games. so get use to it and stop whining

 

[Rall]

OK, can anyone summurize their gripes with Vitsa?

Some of the problems are the drivers. Some companies out their did not give a new driver for their products. I have a creative sound card and for the first couple of weeks my computer did not play sound all that good, but they did give a new driver so the problem was fixed. Also 2 gig of ram is fine but I would say down the road it would be wise to get another 2 gigs.

The Pros out weigh the cons. Vista is nice on the eyes and soon we will have a chance to run games at direct x 10. Vista also seems to me to run smoother than XP. Eventually you will have to upgrade to Vista so just do it anyway. Just make sure, you have to go to window's web site and check to see if your computer ran run Vista.

 

[petevsdrm]

it's the same thing all over again. when xp was launched. you get less framerate bla bla. but guess what everybody is using xp now. same thing with vista wait few months you will need vista for directx 10 games. so get use to it and stop crying.

Who's crying?

I fully intend to go to Vista when the bugs are ironed out. But the fact remains that RIGHT NOW there are bugs, and I wait until there are not so many problems that affect my usage.

That's a statement of fact. The whiny tone in your post could more accurately be described as crying.

 

[mad_murdock]

OK, can anyone summurize their gripes with Vitsa?

Eventually you will have to upgrade to Vista so just do it anyway. Just make sure, you have to go to window's web site and check to see if your computer ran run Vista.

I don't get that kind of argument. Vista has noted problems, but you should upgrade before they fix any of these problems, because you're going ot upgrade in the next 1-3 years anyways.

Currently, they have a Service Pack in the works, expected for late fall, maybe winter. Unless one is dual-booting, I don't know that I would make an all or nothing leap in Vista. It obviously has annoying bugs (for some anyways), if everything is working under XP, then I'd stick with XP as long as possible, or at least until the first SP is released. In my case, I get a MSDN subscription and so it didn't cost me anything to load up Vista, but even after 4 months of use, I still spend most of my time under XP

OK, can anyone summurize their gripes with Vitsa?

I personally don't care much for Vista. If I wanted pretty I would have bought a Mac, I run under Classic mode, as Aero just doesn't do anything for me. But that's a personal tast thing.

Gripes with Vista is also certainly going to be a personal taste and likes and dislikes. There are plenty of things, I just don't like about Vista. I understand why some of the features are there, (The UAC, new protection on folders, etc etc) I just don't like it. everything "feels" slower under Vista, Copying files from one drive to another, Simply deleting files, If you run with the UAC on, and delete a common Start Menu Shortcut, you'll get hit with 3 different prompts to confirm you really want to and to allow it to happen. Superfetch doesn't seem to offer much to someone who plays more than 1 game ata time, and with more than 1GB of ram, readyboost isn't a factor. I don't search for files very often, so the new Instant Seaarch is useless to me.

Again, it's a matter of personal taste and what you do. Vista might be the greatest things you've ever expereince, or you might hate it so much,y ou go back to XP and hold out until you can't make it any longer.

 

[Guest]

i agree with you that there are bugs. but as more people use vista they will be ironed out true. For time being dual boot windows xp and vista is good idea

as for my crying lol. it was you that was whining not me. so just suck it up.
if your worried about framerates. windows 98 will give you even more framerates that windows XP.

 

[petevsdrm]

i agree with you that there are bugs. but as more people use vista they will be ironed out true. For time being dual boot windows xp and vista is good idea

as for my crying lol. it was you that was whining not me. so just suck it up.
if your worried about framerates. windows 98 will give you even more framerates that windows XP.

You are the only one talking about framerates. It seems you are confusing this thread with another. I am talking about basic driver incompatibilities.

Like not being able to use my monitor at it's native resolution.

Why would I dual boot vista with XP?
If I already have XP installed, there is nothing that Vista can do that XP can't. There are are no directX10 games out.

Do you work for Microsoft or what? Sell some more copies, maybe you'll get a bonus.

 

[notherdude]

Hey, when have a few bugs stopped a bunch of adventureous early adopters like us? I live for bugs. :lol:

Fewer FPS? I haven't noticed but then I do have a 8800 gts and an e6600 @ 3.5. Supreme Commander and Stalker crash my Vista. So I switch back to xp. Dua;l boot, for sure until problems all fixed.

Otherwise I love Vista, it's just a new toy for me. If I were running a business on my home PC I wouldn't touch Visat for a year or so.

If you have old hardware you should also probably avoid it. Poor driver support and stiif requirements.
Re: DRM. I have yet to have any problems there. What exactly is the beef here?'m not arguing, just asking.

 

[petevsdrm]

Re: DRM. I have yet to have any problems there. What exactly is the beef here?'m not arguing, just asking.

My monitor's native rez of 1920x1080 was not available for my desktop or any games.

Supreme Commander and Stalker crash my Vista.

Quite a few things crash Vista, search around the net for a while and see.

Poor driver support and stiif requirements.

You seem to be answering your own question. :lol:

I live for bugs. ...it's just a new toy for me

That's the way you have to look at it right now in order to enjoy it. If you have a passion for tinkering around with unstable software, then it will be fun to play with.
Like i said in my first post, it's a pretty operating system, and I am looking forward to adopting it.

Right now, not only does it have stability and driver issues, but also it does not do anything new. When Crysis comes out, you can be sure I will have it installed by then.

 

[notherdude]

My monitor's native rez of 1920x1080 was not available for my desktop or any games.

Interesting. Could you elaborate on this. Why is this a DRM issue (copy protection of HD content?) and will it remain this way or is some fix coming.

 

[petevsdrm]

My monitor's native rez of 1920x1080 was not available for my desktop or any games.

Interesting. Could you elaborate on this. Why is this a DRM issue (copy protection of HD content?) and will it remain this way or is some fix coming.

I don't think it was a DRM issue(I have other issues with DRM).

It's a driver issue. Even after months of work, the nVidia driver simply did not support that resolution. Quite a few other people on the nVidia website had the same problem.

I certainly hope there is a fix coming, although nVidia declined to reply to my bug report. To be honest I can hardly blame them, I am sure they are swamped with e-mails about the Vista drivers.

 

[notherdude]

My monitor's native rez of 1920x1080 was not available for my desktop or any games.

Interesting. Could you elaborate on this. Why is this a DRM issue (copy protection of HD content?) and will it remain this way or is some fix coming.

I don't think it was a DRM issue(I have other issues with DRM).

It's a driver issue. Even after months of work, the nVidia driver simply did not support that resolution. Quite a few other people on the nVidia website had the same problem.

I certainly hope there is a fix coming, although nVidia declined to reply to my bug report. To be honest I can hardly blame them, I am sure they are swamped with e-mails about the Vista drivers.

OK. Hope you do get your rez. My 20" LCD works at 1680 x 1050 and my HD TV outs ok from my 8800 gts at 1080i but I was having difficulty at some points along the way with various driver versions from Nvidia.
I was thinking of getting a 24" LCD but your problem has me wondering.

But back to DRM. What are the issues exactly? For me so far so good but I have heard about the DRM constraints of Vista and have just not gotten any details yet.

 

[AirAmerica]

Do you need more memory for running Games of Vista? Yes.

Im running XP with 2gigs ram and when running the newest games out, Company of Hero's (Everything Maxed and at 1600x1050), I'm using about 95% of it.

It should be known that I run about 45 to 50 process on XP bringing me to about 350 to 400mb of ram used on idle.

 

[Guest]

true man. i have 8800 too. i don't feel anything slow in games under vista few drop in framerate but i don't feel it. most games i tried work with vista except few old ones. oh well if you want something you need to give up somthing too.

 

[petevsdrm]

Here are some good articles on DRM specifically as it applies to Vista.


I think this is the most informative article so far.
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

here are some others

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/28/vista_drm_analysis/

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/drm_in_windows.html

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/hdcp-vista.ars

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=25124

Read up boys and girls, If you were wondering why Vista is so much slower than XP, the answer is in these articles.

 

[Alsone]

2GB on Vista is a bad idea for gaming.

My Vista use 1.3GB at desktop to run the OS and Kaspersky AV (which is very system light).

Fact is Vista loves ram.

As new games now require in excess of 1GB (read installed 2GB) to run at high graphical settings, you should be looking towards installing 4GB of memory and you can only do that on the 64 bit version, which is why most gamers are now going for Vista 64. (Put 4GB in the 32 bit version and you'll only report @ 3GB which not only potenially leaves you marginal on free memory, but also means you've wasted 1 stick).

PS if you're wondeing why I don't advocate 3GB, its because on most boards you lose dual channel if you run 3 modules or 2 unevenly sized modules. Identical pairs are always the best option.

 

[Guest]

ture man. that why i am going to add only 2x515mb sticks already in 2x1gb