In the post below I shake an angry finger in the direction of Windows Vista. As it turns out, the problem was related to the configuration of a particular installation of Vista, and not the operating system itself.
Since that post I've purchased a couple new computers, and put Vista 64 Ultimate on both. It is really very nice. I've been struggling with memory issues while rendering 3d scenes, so I wanted to tap into the 64bit architecture. My first impulse was to instal XP64, but decided to try Vista on the first computer instead. The visual styling is very nice, my memory problems are eliminated, the UAC is a step in the right direction for security, and I haven't had any issues with drivers for my hardware.
Both machines that I installed Vista on have quad core CPUs and 4gb of RAM. I don't think you could get away with less RAM than this, as it seems to really like using it. I'm considering dropping another pair of 2gb sticks in there to boost me to 8gb. The beautiful thing is that I will actually be able to utilize all 8gb and crank those settings in 3ds Max without having the hair pulling frustration that I've been dealing with on x86 systems.
People complain about the UAC, but it is one of the strongest new features of Vista. It is extremelyannoying if you run under an administrator account for day to day usage. It wants to confirm everything that you want to do. However, running as a standard user does not have this level of annoyance. When you go to install applications or change system settings it asks you to enter an administrator password. This is reasonable, and not aggravating when you are doing work or just generally using the computer. It would be nice if it functioned more like sudo on linux, where it would give you a timeframe to work as an admin, instead of requiring you to enter the password every time, but it provides me with a sense of security knowing that my OS is locked down fairly tight.
All and all I would recommend Vista if you have a new machine. I didn't try it pre-SP1, but I understand that it fixed a lot of the complaints people were having with the OS. It wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it might be, and it certainly does not suck.
Yes, 8GB RAM is a good thing. Your assumption about 4GB is correct as well. Also, if you dont have at least dual core, dont even waste your time with Vista. It is a great OS if you have the right hardware and the right configuration.
Direct X 10 is pretty friggen cool too, so if you have the cash to fork out for a decent DX10 card i recommend it.
I went ahead and ordered the extra RAM for both of the machines. It is pretty cheap, and should be handy. It just bothers me to see the RAM usage idling at 40%. I got DX10 cards for both machines too. It has been a few years since my last upgrade. These machines render 3d frames 5x faster than my dual-cpu AMD Opteron box at 1/3 of the cost. That is why I have two new machines actually. I bought my wife one, saw that speed difference, and got myself one too
I’ve been using vista since it’s release. Home premium on my laptop and ultimate on my desktop.
I had some memory issues, but that’s a problem with my mobo not vista. Switching out dimms solved those issues. Overall It’s faster more responsive and prettier than xp. I’m able to get a ton of stuff done and I haven’t seen a single crash since I fixed my memory problem. I really don’t understand all the hubbub about how much it sucks. And increasingly I hear that prattle from people who installed it on older under powered machines or people who never used the OS. Microsoft did do a crap assed job with their “certified for vista” program. They should have just came out and said if you’re not buying a new computer stick with xp. Would have saved them the embarrassment.