Which Windows version? (XP 64 versus Vista Home 32)

Which OS would you recommend?

  • Total voters
    4
Grindspine

Grindspine

Moderator
So, I want to reformat my old Pentium machine before loaning it to my sister, but, that means freeing up my copy of XP Professional 32 bit from this machine.

I have a copy of XP Professional 64 bit and a copy of Vista Home Basic 32 bit.

I figure that XP Professional has the advantages of 64 bit processing and will allow me to use all 4 GB of system memory that I have installed instead of the 3.2 GB currently available.

Vista would allow my graphics card to use Direct X10 instead of just DX9c.

Or I could keep XP Professional 32 bit and just try to run a repair install on the old PC...

Any recommendations between the OS choices?
 
From what I remember, 64-bit on XP was not true 64-bit and had a lot of compatibility problems with both 32-bit and 64-bit programs. It was basically an afterthought and was geared more towards businesses. At least that's what I recall, if you've tried it and everything seems fine, you might want to go with that.

With that said, I would still recommend Vista. With all SP patches and all, it will be much better for her and closer to Windows 7. It will also be more compatible with any new hardware she may purchase.
 
buy windows 7

much better/stable than the rest of those choices.

i know its not what you want to hear, but its an opinion.

im running windows 7 64 bit and ive had NO problems.

XP64 is an abortion of an OS. i ran it for awhile and was disappointed.

Windows Vista 32bit is a waste. 64 bit on a newer version of windows is almost a must. 4gb of ram is the bare minimum i would use with vista. (1gb is minimum but that wont run anything else besides the background. 2gb is ok, but plenty of games, passive virus scanners, other programs running will use up the other 1gb.)
 
Unfortunately, I'm friggin' poor. Windows 7 Professional 64 bit would make the most sense with my current machine so I could both utilize my full memory and get DX11 support for future graphics cards and DX10 support for my current card.

The old machine is now a Celeron 1.4 ghz with 768 mb of RAM. I still figure Windows XP 32 bit will be the best for that since it has limited hardware capabilities.

I did find my other XP product key, so I basically have two for XP 32 bit, one for XP 64 bit, or one for Vista 32 bit.

I have NEVER been impressed with Vista, though some say it is good for gaming.

I have heard of compatability issues with XP64 and definitely cannot use at least several programs that I am used to using with XP32.

So, with my current machine, do I just stick with XP32 until I can afford Windows 7 Pro 64 bit?
 
If you have regular Windows XP 32-bit then stick with that. It's already a proven OS, so you can't really go wrong with it for the next year or two.
 
http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/features/133761.20090901.Windows-7-Best-OS-for-gaming/

Taking a look at that article, it looks like though Windows XP Pro 32 bit is still popular, Windows 7 64 bit would be the right upgrade. But, as stated before, I can't afford it at the moment. It actually looks like Vista 64 bit performs better than XP 32 bit in many games, but is still outperformed by 7.

Phoenix, I definitely agree with my limited experience with Vista 32 bit Home and with XP 64 bit. Neither was really worth it. I have played around with both but always went back to XP.

So, for the time, I guess I'll stick with XP on my main computer. The old computer is a problem though. Though I have the original product key, I can't seem to get it to work with the XP disc that I have to reinstall the OS on it.
 
trkorecky said:
What are the specs of the computer?
Click to expand...

My main PC:
Core 2 Duo overclocked to 3.16 Ghz
4 GB DDR2 800 RAM
Geforce 8800GT 512 MB graphics card'
Velociraptor 300 hard drive

the old PC:
Celeron 1.4 Ghz
768 MB PC133 SDRAM
Geforce 2 MX440 64 MB graphics card
80 GB ATA100 hard drive
 
I guess I can get a student discount when I start grad school next year. I don't think my school has discounts for graduates.
 
Grindspine said:
I guess I can get a student discount when I start grad school next year. I don't think my school has discounts for graduates.
Click to expand...

As long as you have a .edu email address, you can order online too.
 
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