Windows 7 versions for gaming & development?

Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
So, my computer is sorta melting. It's almost three years old, which surprises me, so I guess that's why.

Ordered some replacement parts based on configurations that work for me, reviews, etc.

Mobo: Asus P7P55D-E (Intel P55 Express)
CPU: Intel Core i5 750
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3

That bit's all sorted. Some should be delivered today, rest tomorrow. Thing is that I'm going to have to reinstall so figure this is the right time to do Windows 7.

By default, I'd go for the Professional edition on the assumption that I need the XP mode thing. Is that so?

With the setup above, do I want a 64bit build? Or is that still flaky with games?

Is Windows 7 actually worthwhile as a base platform or would I be as well just reinstalling XP?

Thanks.
 
Kasatka

Kasatka

Active Member
It depends on what games you enjoy. If you grab the latest games all the time and don't replay old ones, then 64bit is fine.
If however, like me, you play classics all the time then 64bit can be a pain in the arse.

Haven't tried Windows 7 myself yet, but from what i've heard of it it seems to be a more stable version of Vista and i quite like Vista.
 
E

elDiablo

Guest
I've been using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit on my desktop for a good few months now (work laptop has had it longer, but that was for development), and I like it. My points:

  • I didn't see the point of getting Ultimate/Pro over Home Premium. I've got Home Premium for my desktop with games, and used Ultimate on work laptop. Gaming-wise, I've noticed no different. Development-wise, I'd like to say there is no difference, but I think that could be as I just haven't used any of the extra features, and had no need to.
  • I'd say that 64-bit is pretty much the only way to go now. With 4Gig RAM being pretty much the standard for everyone, plus video memory, You're going to lose out with 32-bit versions. I've found that 64-bit support in Win7 is a LOT better than that of XP Pro, in so far as there are actually drivers for it.
  • (Until recently - more on this in a mo) I've had no major crashes or problems. BF2 crashed to desktop a few times, and it had some graphics issues in the past, but these were due to me running in SLI (I had the same problems in XP, and they don't happen with SLI off). I've found that all games I want to play work fine in Win7, even in 64-bit.

So yeah, do you really need Pro or Ultimate? Or can you live with just Home Premium? That's the only really question I see as worth asking. I would definitely go 64 bit.

As for my major crashes, I bought and installed Just Cause 2, and after 30 minutes to an hour of playing, it pretty much always crashes. Sometimes it gives graphical glitches, which gives me time to quit to desktop, but then the desktop has those same glitches. Rebooting fixes them. Turns out the blue screens of death that it causes are due to nvlddmkm.sys, which is the nVidia drivers. Apparently a lot of people with 8-series cards have this crash quite often. JC2 is the only game to crash on me in this way, which is a bit annoying. And I'm only really saying this to show you that there are still some problems, but for the most part I am very happy with Win7!
 
Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks elD.

elDiablo said:
Turns out the blue screens of death that it causes are due to nvlddmkm.sys, which is the nVidia drivers. Apparently a lot of people with 8-series cards have this crash quite often.
Click to expand...

Which graphics card do you have?
 
DeZmond

DeZmond

Junior Administrator
I recently upgraded to Windows 7 Professional x64 which I get free on an academic license, and I must admit that I'm very happy with it. I find my system is generally a lot more responsive and faster to boot than under XP, and my graphics performance improved dramatically on account of the graphics being able to use DirectX 10 and the full 4GB of RAM - I would assume the same would be the case with your system.

I haven't thus far run into any compatibility issues, but I haven't done any scientific tests regarding the same.
 
Traxata

Traxata

Junior Administrator
Ronin, you don't 'get' the Windows XP on the install for Win 7 Pro / ultimate, you have to go through the M$ site, verify that you have a legit copy.... Eventually you get to the point of downloading Microsoft Windows Virtual Server 2008(?) edition. There are two options, one just the virtual server, and two is with the XP installation already in it.

I haven't tried using this on Win 7 yet, but on vista, it was fairly slow, and other virtual servers work just as well.... If you have CD keys for Win XP Pro already, then I don't see the point in getting it over 7 home premium.

I've got the Win 7 Pro edition purely because it was cheaper than home premium (as a student).

Regarding 64bit, no compatability issues with that myself, I have regular crashes but that's due mostly to my motherboard and HDD...

As lots of programming companies have been going at 64bit for a while now, it tends to know if a 64bit program needs to be installed in it's 64bit directory, or the x86 directory. I don't know if that's relevant here though :)
 
VibroAxe

VibroAxe

Junior Administrator
Right, I'm going to weigh in on the development side of things. Firstly, I use windows 7 accross all of machines, both virtual, bootcamp and physical, I've used a variety of x64 and x86 and Pro / Ultimate editions. (I get pro and ultimate free from my MSDN license, so I can't comment on Home Premium here).

As far as compatability is concerned, I've had no issues finding drivers or making stuff work with the singular exception of C*C Generals, although elD and myself eventually managed to work out a fix for it (can't actually remember what it was)

Developmentwise however, you need to be a little bit carefull on x64 platforms. If you are using Visual Studio < 2010 then you need to be VERY carefull in x64. Depending on what platform you are targetting the ability to cross compile can be somewhat neutered. An example I will give is when debugging a x64 dotnet application in VS 2008 you loose the ability to edit and continue when using an x64 system. Much of this I think has been fixed in 2010, but give some consideration about what systems you are targetting in your development line. Particularly of concern is WebService/WCF/ASP.NET applications which are developed on an x64 machine and deployed on a x86 system.


As a quick aside to any potential flamers, yes there is a different between x64 and x86 dotnet applications and depending on the libraries and runtimes you are pulling depends on whether you will get caught out. There are a bunch of flags and things controlling which arch they are built for/converted to within the assemblys and libraries. To be fair, my last actual experience of this was .NET 2.x rather than 3.5/4, however I do advise caution!


EDIT: You only need the magic XP compatability server / virtual pc thing for seriously legacy buisness applications which wont run on vista/7 (IE6 web applications for example). I'd be somewhat surprised if you need it in a development line of work, normal compatability mode should work fine!
 
Ki!ler-Mk1

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
I got windows 7 in january this year, though i had it on the shelf for 2 months before that, i got pro edition when it was £90 on amazon, and before that i used XP, i never used vista, though i got a copy for free which i have been running on another pc for someones else to use.

On windows 7 i have found the stability to be impressive*, and i have had 1 BSOD in 5 months, and 4 crashes where i had to use the powerbutton, all 4 in games over 10 years old, when modern games crash(so u got picture but you cant interact) control alt del has not yet failed to bring up a VISIBLE task manager to close the tasks, Shutting down feels easier with the "force shutdown function" and switching from xp to 7 was easy, but in the past when i tried vista (didnt get illegally nor did i pay for it, and i didnt use it) i couldnt find anything.

*In so much as i rarely(see above :D) have to cut the power to get control back.

I think windows 7 is great, im not sure why i chose pro, probably because the price difference was low and i had XP pro and didnt want to take the chance of missing a feature, i have not yet used/needed the XP emulator thingy.

I installed 64 bit, and an so far had 1 problem, my 8+ year old web cam no longer worked, this is not a big deal as it was poor quality.

As far as upgrading from xp goes, i salute you for holding out through vista and say go for it! Though i cannot comment on the advantaged of Pro over Home.
 
Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks everyone. Very useful information. Looks like 64 bit is the way to go. When work figure out what way up things are I should get my MSDN licence again (providing I don't just call it quits on them in the meantime) but either way I can get Visual C# 2010 Express straight from MS when I need it; quite a bit of what I do is still .NET 2.

Home Premium also seems the right way up. As Trax says, I have my own XP install disc already...

Thanks again, all!
 
BiG D

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
The only thing I'd caution you on is home premium lacks some networking features - namely the ability to join a domain. If you require that for work, you'll need to go with professional.
 
Haven

Haven

Administrator
Staff member
Ok speaking as a lover of all things Linux I'm really sorry to say that windows 7 64 bit rocks ... damn you Microsoft!!!!!

Its great for gaming with the exception of NVIDIA SLi (for me at least, ymmv).

I have the erm *cough* ultimate version and there is no bloat or slowdown so its all good. I definitely recommend the 64 bit version as there's really no reason not to any more.
 
Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
Haven said:
windows 7 64 bit rocks
Click to expand...

*blinks* I had to read that twice! Just to be sure.

Domains aren't an issue (this is my computer for me only). SLI also isn't an issue (I've always done fine on a single decent card).

Sold on Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
 
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