Windows XP, Vista or 7?

[Jedakiah]

I have three computers I use on a regular basis. Each has a different OS. I'm using all three right now to gather details for those that want them. I'll always love XP as it's what I grew up on as I'm 24 yrs old. Besides that I've moved on. My concern is I'm about to build a new computer and I'm pretty set on using Windows Vista 64 bit SP2. I would use SP1 if I could as gaming tests I've seen lose a slight performance edge in SP2.

The reason I am pretty set on using Windows Vista is because my current computer that performs the best is the one running Vista even though my laptop should blow it out of the park. All I hear is people talk smack about Vista. I really just don't get it. My laptop is the one computer I have a second OS on Ubuntu as Windows 7 to me sucks. Is it just my personal preference here? Should I bite the bullet and put Windows 7 on my new computer for performance reasons?

First: Windows XP
Older Dell for work
Mainboard : Dell 0X7841
Chipset : Intel i945G/GZ
Processor : Intel Pentium 4 531J @ 3000MHz
Physical Memory : 2048MB (1 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family
Hard Disk : Western Digital WD400BD-75JMC0 (40GB)
Hard Disk : Seagate FA GoFlex Desk (500GB)
CD-Rom Drive : LITE-ON CD-ROM LTN-489S
Network Card : Broadcom BCM5751 NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3 (32-bit)
DirectX : Version 9.0c

Second: Windows Vista 32 bit SP1
Built PC
Mainboard : nVIDIA AN-M2(MCP68S)
Chipset : nVidia GeForce 7025
Processor : AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3100MHz
Physical Memory : 4096MB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Hard Disk : HDS724040KLSA80 ATA Device (400GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20
Monitor Type : AOC International 2436 - 23 inches
Network Card : Nvidia MCP67 Ethernet
Network Card : Ralink Technology RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Operating System : Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
DirectX : Version 10.00
Windows Performance Index : 5.2 on 5.9




Third: Windows 7

Chipset : Intel HM55
Processor : Intel Core i5 @ 2266MHz
Physical Memory : 4096MB (2 x 2048 DDR3-SDRAM )
Video Card : AMD Radeon HD 6500M/5600/5700 Series
Hard Disk : Western Digital WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 (500GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7585H
Monitor Type : AUO - 15 inches
Network Card : Broadcom NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
Network Card : Atheros Communications AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCIe)
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
Windows Performance Index : 5.8 on 7.9


My new built computer contains the following:
Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155
Mobo: ASRock P67 Extreme4 B3 Intel P67 ATX DDR3 2133 Motherboard
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Superclocked 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1463-KR
Disk Drive: ASUS 24X DVDRW SATA OEM
HDD: WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/32MB/SATA-6G
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB PC15000 DDR3 1866MHz CL9 2x4
PSU: Kingwin Maximum Power 850w Power Supply

So I'm sure my options are Vista 64bit or 7 64bit. Please give me your opinions on what would be the best for performance and gaming.

[jackvdbuk]

always 7. always 7.

xp is way past its sell by date, is it even sold anymore?

[Pancake]

Agreed 7. NEVER Vista. And XP was good, but as said its not really sold anymore, and its old

[Flibb]

As above, go for win7. I currently have it installed on a 6 year old tablet pc, runs fine even on that. I honestly think its thebest OS that MS have ever produced. The instal on my main rig was extremly stable from day, only reason I reinstalled wa sa move to ssd.

[Hoonigan]

It absolutely has to be Windows 7.

I've had it installed since it was released and had very very few problems with it.

Also, I see you're getting a GTX560, if you want to make full use of that (Direct X 11), then you're going to want Windows 7. Personally I think the difference between Direct X 10 and 11 is quite big in certain games so you're definitely better off going with Windows 7.

Also, can I suggest, seeing as you're going for such a high end specification computer, why don't you throw an SSD in there as well? The performance gains from an SSD in Windows 7 are amazing!

And one last thing, don't buy that PSU! You need to buy a branded PSU when you're putting such high quality parts into your machine. You aren't gonna need 850w either, so you'd be much better off getting something closer to the 600W mark.

[Funkstar]

Regarding the original post: tl;dr

However regardless of that, my answer would still be Windows 7. When that question is asked, it will always be Windows 7 these days.

[blueball]

Windows 7

In my experience much more stable and generally faster than Vista (plus you get DX11)

[Jedakiah]

Direct x 11 is a valid point. As far as the PSU goes I've look around and the reviews were very good. The only problem is it's actually 816 watt max. The reason I got a higher one is in 3-4 months I'll be upgrading my system and OCing.

[Jedakiah]

Direct x 11 is supported on Vista. I'm hearing mostly Windows 7 out of personal preference. About the only reason I'd do 7 at this point is because if I move a window to the side of my screen it auto fills that half of my screen. Any benchmark tests? I guess maybe I'll have to do it and post my results.

[Hoonigan]

As far as the PSU goes I've look around and the reviews were very good.

Yeah, I've just read a couple of reviews there and it does actually seem to be a decent PSU. I think I got the name confused with another brand of lesser quality.

[EvanJackPenn]

If you're looking for something modular, this Antec would perform admirably

[djnaff]

windows 7 all the way
os will last longer more stable in the long run

[scaryjim]

I see little reason to think that a mobile i5 at 2.2GHz should massively outperform an Athlon X2 at 3.1GHz, tbh. I can see them running about the same, or perhaps the i5 running slightly quicker, but not singificantly so. Other than that there's not much to choose between them: the Mobile 6500 graphics should be a bit quicker than a 9500GT, but in terms of RAM and hard drive (which, let's face it, make the biggest difference in responsiveness) you're not going to notice the difference between the two. I'm also willing to bet that, since it's a home build, your Vista install has a lot less bloat on it than the Win7 install on your laptop.

In the long term, the only sensible option is Windows 7 x64. Vista support will be dropped a lot earlier than Win 7 support, because it was a much less popular OS, and there's no point buying an OS that isn't getting the manufacturer's full support. I've heard a lot of people say that Vista SP1 made a big difference to the OS, but the problem is that a lot of people tried Vista before SP1 and hated it (me included). Windows 7 worked well straight away, and is constantly being improved. There really is no other sensible choice...

[Chyronn]

What I've found is that the more attached to an OS you are, the harder it is to let go. Currently i'm still on XP SP3 32bit and it's serving me well so far. but with a need for more RAM, and better graphical computations 7 is the way to go. As soon as the parts for a new Sandy Bridge build come through, i'm changing over to 64 bit 7.
i think the difference between XP and 64-bit 7 is as the same as XP was to 98.

[Larkspeed]

Well I guess my opinion must be in the minority.

Personally if it were feasible I would have Windows XP

Vista is just total crap and I am not a big fan of 7 either, both of them take fairly large performance hits when compared to XP.

That being said we have 7 installed an all the machines in this house.

This because as I already said Vista is just pants and not only do they not sell XP any more it is no longer supported either so no further development on it.

So I say 7 only because it's really the only choice

[scaryjim]

... Vista is just total crap and I am not a big fan of 7 either, both of them take fairly large performance hits when compared to XP. ...

Performance hits in what sense? I've had several PCs that I've migrated from XP to 7 and I've never noticed any particular difference. If you were running 512MB then possibly, although with SP3 XP actually runs pretty slowly on 512MB - I've got several machines at work that I've had to upgrade to 768MB / 1GB since installing XP SP3...