Our best gaming days are behind us. Games are only getting worse.
Originally posted by Skatty2007
I currently have XP and am thinking of upgrading to Vista. Besides all the normal Vista-related concerns, the one I have for this forum is: Does Vista help the performance of AoC? Is it more stable? Does it run smoother? Or is it just the opposite? I know DX10 is not in game yet, but when it does, how will that figure into the equation?
Please refrain from fanboi/troll comments as the goal of this topic is more of a technincal topic if the merging of AoC and Vista is recommended by the general AoC populous.
Here is my current PC specs just in case, though this topic really is for anyone wondering if they should upgrade to Vista.
I have about the same machine, except for an 8800GT video card, and using Vista, the game ran flawlessly on high settings. Had something like 80 to 90 FPS.
Of course, that was more than a month ago when I last played (at launch).
It will run way better on xp just because of the fact that vista is nothing but a resource hog. With 4g of ram you will have plenty left over to play AoC. In vista (depending on your settings) it will take up at least 1.5 to 2g of your ram. Now if you upgrade to the 64 bit vista version, you can probably upgrade your comps ram for better performance but the 32b version caps on 3g plus whatever your video card has.
Hope this helps
Not the case, I have 4gb of RAM and it uses all of it with 32 bit Vista(Shows all 4gb in Vista).
You need to learn more about 32 and 64 bit addressing before you comment - 32bit systems are capped at around 4G of address space (2^32 or 4,294,967,296 or 4g). That address space is consumed not only by system RAM but by all hardware (basically anything with a driver) - by example a PCIe card can require as much as 256+ M of address space alone depending on GPU memory size (some cards now coming with 1 to 2 G dedicated). With hardware support PAE (Physical Address Extension) can emulate/virutalize a 36 bit environment but this is inadvisable for desktops, particularly performance app oriented desktops like a gaming rig where, unlike a server, throughput is not the overriding goal. And even if you go through the hacks to enable PAE the reality is only applications (possibly including even drivers) coded to use PAE will be unable to benefit from PAE in real terms.
From Microsoft on PAE and Vista (PAE being intended only for server variants typically):
If a computer has many installed devices, the available memory may be reduced to 3 GB or less. However, the maximum memory available in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista is typically 3.12 GB.
For Windows Vista to use all 4 GB of memory on a computer that has 4 GB of memory installed, the computer must meet the following requirements:
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The chipset must support at least 8 GB of address space. Chipsets that have this capability include the following:
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Intel 975X
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Intel P965
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Intel 955X on Socket 775
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Chipsets that support AMD processors that use socket F, socket 940, socket 939, or socket AM2. These chipsets include any AMD socket and CPU combination in which the memory controller resides in the CPU.
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The CPU must support the x64 instruction set. The AMD64 CPU and the Intel EM64T CPU support this instruction set.
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The BIOS must support the memory remapping feature. The memory remapping feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory remapping feature.
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An x64 (64-bit) version of Windows Vista must be used.
MORE INFORMATION
Driver compatibility issues that are related to Data Execution Prevention (DEP) are typically physical address extension (PAE) mode-induced compatibility issues.
Note PAE is required only on computers that have processors that support hardware-enforced DEP.
DEP may cause compatibility issues with any driver that performs code generation or that uses other techniques to generate executable code in real time. Many drivers that experienced these issues have been fixed. Because DEP is always on for drivers that are on 64-bit versions of Windows, these drivers typically experienced compatibility issues. However, there is no guarantee that all drivers have been updated to fix PAE-mode-induced compatibility issues. However, there are few drivers that use these techniques. DEP alone does not typically cause driver compatibility issues.
The primary driver compatibility issues that you may experience occur when you run PAE mode on 32-bit computers. PAE mode enables processors to use more than 4 GB of memory. The primary difference between PAE memory paging schemes and non-PAE memory paging schemes is the additional level of paging that is required in PAE mode. PAE mode requires three levels of paging instead of two levels of paging.
Some drivers might not load if PAE mode is enabled because the device might be unable to perform 64-bit addressing. Or, the drivers might be written with the assumption that PAE mode requires more than 4 GB of memory. Such drivers are written with the expectation that the drivers will always receive 64-bit addresses in PAE mode and that the driver or the device cannot interpret the address.
Other drivers might load in PAE mode but cause system instability by directly modifying system page table entries (PTE). These drivers expect 32-bit page table entries but receive 64-bit PTEs in PAE mode instead.
The most common PAE compatibility issue for drivers involves direct memory access (DMA) transfers and map register allocation. Many devices that support DMA, typically 32-bit adapters, cannot perform 64-bit physical addressing. When these devices run in 32-bit mode, the devices can address all physical address space. In PAE mode, data can be present at a physical address that is larger than 4 GB. To enable devices that have these constraints to function in this scenario, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and later versions of Windows provide double-buffering for the DMA transaction. Windows 2000 Server and later versions of Windows do this by providing a 32-bit address that is indicated by a map register. The device can perform the DMA transaction to the 32-bit address. The kernel copies the memory to the 64-bit address that is provided to the driver. When the computer runs with PAE mode disabled, drivers for 32-bit devices do not require that system memory be allocated to their map registers. This means that double-buffering is not required because all devices and all drivers are contained within the 32-bit address space. Tests of drivers for 32-bit devices on 64-bit processor–based computers have demonstrated that DMA-capable drivers that are client tested typically expect unlimited map registers.
The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.
In short - if you have a 32bit OS like Vista/XP you are limited to around a max of 3G or so. If you want more RAM for performance reasons go 64bit (especially if you are getting a more recent GPU with some having as much as 2G of RAM dedicated reducing substantially the max available for system RAM addressing).
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