Windows Vista :: First Impressions on *REAL* PC (Not Virtualized)

sunilramansunilraman
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
OK. Specs:

AMD64 Venice 3000+ 1.8ghz OC'ed 2.16ghz (singlecore)

nVidia 6600GT 128mb VRAM 500mhz/1ghz OC'ed 559mhz/1.18ghzmem

1gb (2x512mb) DDR400 Kingston ValueRam 3-3-3-8 @ approx. 400mhz

80gb SATA hard disk drive 7200rpm Maxtor

Bus Speed 240mhz (quad-pumped HT link = 1.2ghz "FSB")

Asus A8N-SLI normal, nVidia nForce 4 AMD SLI motherboard chipset

1280x1024 Sony 17" VGA input





Installing:



1.Vista Business. Booted from DVD okay. When through some simple steps,

about 45minutes to install.



2.nVidia drivers. Got latest ForceWare (mobo), GeForce (GPU) and nTune, installed.



3.Copying these stuff from iPod Shuffle connected via USB (not connected to Internet)



4.Sound was not working. Had to go to www.realtek.com.tw to download Vista drivers





The GUI and AeroGlass:



1. Generally, whatevs... [but kinda cute and gawd I can't stand XP anymore now]



2. The taskbar and window title bar can be made transparent. Pretty but useless.



3. The 3D-window-switcher :: rubbish.

a. When switching, the edges of the perspective 3d flipping are not antialiased well.

b. It is not that clear which is the "front window" that will be activated because the 3d-flipper

sizes according to the original window size.

c. Use it yourself, and you will see what I mean. Pretty, but again useless.



4. "Dark glass"/ "Aero glass"... Pretty, can't go back to XP now.

a. options: Default, Graphite, Blue, Teal, Red, Orange, Pink, Frost

b. with transparency (window edges and title bar), color intensity control



5. Fairly fluid windows and response. Slight "throb" when windows close/open.



6. Taskbar at bottom: when hovering over taskbar items (opened windows), a preview of the window in small rectangle pops up. Nice.



7. Finally, it seems that normal or maximised "Finder" ("Explorer") windows seem to remember their positions properly.





Windows Media 11:

Pretty, has some built-in music. Audio quality in general with the Realtek AC97 codec and my basic TDK big-headphones is good. iTunes overall is far superior in any case though.





IE7:

Pretty, but generally whatevs, use Firefox.



....To Be Continued.....

...................................

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Start Menu:



    1. Full of annoying Windows "iLife wannabe/ etc." kind of apps.



    2. All Programs opens in more hierachical views rather than fold out menus



    3. Just above "Start" (Vista Bubble) icon is search field pretty much *exactly* like Tiger's Spotlight. Useful.





    Security:



    1. Makes NO sense whatsoever.



    2. You log in with password when first startup.



    3. Then, either you run a program and asks if you want to run it or not.



    4. Or, you run a program "as administrator" (might as well do this all the time), and there is no further authentication.



    5. Makes NO sense whatsoever.



    6. Maybe if you are not admin-enabled user logged in then you have to enter password to run certain programs. No idea how windows determines which requires special priveledges or not.



    7. Security Center: As bloody fracking annoying as in WinXP. Disabling this service doesn't make it go away like in XP though. Bummer.





    Logging On & Restarting & Crashing:



    1. Generally fairly responsive



    2. Suspending seems generally okay



    3. Some crashing apps (non-Vista "ready") can lock the system (blue circle of death similar to beachball of death). Hard to bring up "Task Manager" sometimes to kill processes





    Overclocking



    1. BIOS overclocking setting holds and appears stable.



    2. nTune (nVidia Control Panel) GPU overclocking seems to work

    but settings are set to factory GPU clocks when restarting





    Gaming:



    1. Installed HalfLife 2: Episode 1



    2. Installed DirectX9.0c Feb 2007 download



    3. Set usual settings for smooth HL2 play in WinXP2Pro.



    4. BAD. Stuttering issues, suffering frame rates.

    IMPOSSIBLE to play HL2: Episode1 well.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Poor DirectX9.0c performance is the dealbreaker for me. I got a computer to do cool stuff with. It's called a MacBook 2ghz 2gb ram Core[1]Duo MacOSX 10.4.8 Tiger, and it runs a superior operating system.



    Why would I need Windows? For smooth, immersive, high-res, exciting, pleasing gaming. With a nVidia 6600GT 128mb VRAM. On a decently overclockable and stable PC system.



    This does not seem possible on Vista. Yes, I only tried HL2:Episode 1. But being one of my favourite games, featuring one of the BEST game engines out there (Valve's Source), I have to say: FRACK VISTA.



    Back to XP2Pro for me. Cheers.



    Also, running P2P for long periods at a time (days), is much more reasonable on a MacBook than the PC Tower. Noisy and power hungry. Think C0(2) emissions .
  • Reply 3 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    On 2nd thoughts I can have my cake and eat it and do that thing in AmericanPie with it......



    Installing WINXP2pro then Vista

    http://www.apcstart.com/4054/how_to_...t_xp_and_vista



    I trying now.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Dual-bootage works. Install WinXP2Pro first. Then install Vista. Make sure you have 2 partitions before starting to install WinXP2Pro !! Install Vista in 2nd partition (D: drive) -- Vista will see D: as C: and vice versa when loaded.



    SuperUltraCraptacular BootLoader screen. Featuring the old skool stylez of the "white text selector bar" (2 images below):





    Here's a close up, the above picture is very blurry, well... you get the idea.

  • Reply 5 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Well, that concludes today's lesson. Let's chill now to some vocal trance. Take it away DJ Scratch(get the pun? huh? hehh...)...!! 8)



  • Reply 6 of 13
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sunilraman View Post








    vs.







    This is why Apple uses EFI.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Bingo. 8) .. For all those that argue "oh you have to have this big ass boot rom

    (or whatever it really is) just to display a pretty start screen blah blah blah" ---

    just look at the above comparison. Case closed.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    marcukmarcuk Posts: 4,442member
    SUNNI - YOU DISSAPOINT ME



    !!!TRATOR!!!



    more importantly, I cant believe you installed VISTA. Its just so.....atleast you could have run XP SP2. WHo the hell installs a first release of anything Microsoft???? /joking



    Here, have a prezzie,- the new 8GB 0.75" Toshiba drive for your troubles



  • Reply 9 of 13
    theapplegeniustheapplegenius Posts: 584member
    Half-Life doesn't work on your computer because Nvidia's drivers are total trash. That's not Vista...yet. Once NV has decent drivers and performance *still* sucks, we can laugh at Vista.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Wait, you mean we have to wait for Vista to be actually a finished product before we can laugh at it?



    Jesus, that'll take another five years!
  • Reply 11 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Heh. You guys funny. But you know that saying, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. 8)
  • Reply 12 of 13
    skatmanskatman Posts: 609member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sunilraman View Post


    Bingo. 8) .. For all those that argue "oh you have to have this big ass boot rom

    (or whatever it really is) just to display a pretty start screen blah blah blah" ---

    just look at the above comparison. Case closed.



    Wow... all these years I could not understand why Macs are so superior... and now I know! It's because of the dual boot selector menu look!

    Am I looking at the set of the next Zoolander movie or something?
  • Reply 13 of 13
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by skatman View Post


    Wow... all these years I could not understand why Macs are so superior... and now I know! It's because of the dual boot selector menu look!...



    It's all the little wispy touches that make you feel better... Rather than the rough groping and squirting of Windoze.

    Power is nothing without control. The Mac is power AND control in harmonious synergy.
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