Best operating system for gaming

Apologies if this has been mentioned before (I did search and I was surprised I didn't find anything). Anyway, the question is what operating system do people consider best for gaming? Should I be sticking with the old school XP 32-bit with 3GB RAM or going for 64-bit Vista with 8GB RAM? BTW - this is for a new rig some HW specs are yet to be decided although I am looking at something like 4GB. QuadCore, HD 4850 512MB.

I am in a fortune position to have a MSDN license so potentially any version of Windows is available to me!

Thanks for your opinions, they will be gratefully received.

Quad/4GB = a very nice experience on Vista 64

8GB is overkill though, no single game (yet) has been written to use more than 2GB of RAM (2GB is the limit for a non-large address space aware application which 99% of software is).

I have 32bit XP installed and Vista x64. I can't remember the last time I booted XP.

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Originally Posted by StrictlySocial

Apologies if this has been mentioned before (I did search and I was surprised I didn't find anything). Anyway, the question is what operating system do people consider best for gaming? Should I be sticking with the old school XP 32-bit with 3GB RAM or going for 64-bit Vista with 8GB RAM? BTW - this is for a new rig some HW specs are yet to be decided although I am looking at something like 4GB. QuadCore, HD 4850 512MB.

I am in a fortune position to have a MSDN license so potentially any version of Windows is available to me!

Thanks for your opinions, they will be gratefully received.

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Dual-boot and do both? There's a good few games (usually thanks to DRM-hell) that balk when attempted to run on Vista x64. But for the games that do run well on Vista x64, they're great, and Vista is a lot more sane for most other modern desktop software.

Thanks for the help guy's - that's one thing out of the way dangel, thanks for the advice on the RAM - I have been out of the PC building scene for so long I haven't got much of a clue about the HW side.

Btw, How to I give thanks - normally there is a button on each persons post. I had a look in the welcome section but couldn't see anything there!

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Originally Posted by StrictlySocial

Btw, How to I give thanks - normally there is a button on each persons post. I had a look in the welcome section but couldn't see anything there!

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I think you need some more posts before you get the 'thanks' button.

With your RAM, I'd recommend Vista 64-bit. I've had no trouble running all the games I've tried so far under Vista 32-bit; some stuff like KotOR can be tricky to get to run, but its usually doable. I've yet to try Jade Empire or Serious Sam on Vista, but I can confirm that Doom 3 works (with its newest patch), F.E.A.R. works (I updated the DX9 runtimes before I tried it; that could make a difference; I've heard it does), and my Windows 95 versions of Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom all work fine. Newer games like Call of Duty 4, Crysis, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion work great (so does TESIII: Morrowind).

One suggestion I'd make is do *not* install your games in Program Files, especially if you like to use mods; UAC will give you hell. Its best to install them elsewhere (I use C:\Games) where UAC isn't set to watch it by default (and its a good idea to not turn off UAC's monitoring of the PF directory, either; its a nifty safety measure. Personally, I say just set UAC into silent mode with something like TweakUAC so you still get the protection without all the admin elevation prompts).

If you have stuff you can't get to work in Vista, you can dual-boot XP and Vista and use XP for that older stuff that just won't run under Vista. However, I've yet to have to do this. :)

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Originally Posted by aidanjt

I think you need some more posts before you get the 'thanks' button.

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I believe this is correct. ;) I think its 5 or 10; might be 20. When it becomes available, it'll appear as a button to the right of Send PM, Quote, Multi-Quote, and Quick Reply in the bottom right-hand corner of the post you're wishing to thank.

for DX10 = Vista for DX9 = XP

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Originally Posted by 2Cold Scorpio

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I believe this is correct. ;) I think its 5 or 10; might be 20. When it becomes available, it'll appear as a button to the right of Send PM, Quote, Multi-Quote, and Quick Reply in the bottom right-hand corner of the post you're wishing to thank.

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25.

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