Minimum specs for VISTA.

[eno]

Here's the news for the hardware fanatics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4996998.stm

[NicksFXHouse]

Here's the news for the hardware fanatics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4996998.stm

yep... and THAT is why I have been saying you will need 2GB of PM and a 512mb video card for FSX, especially if you intend to run VISTA and FSX. As always there are minimums that will work... but anyone who purchases hardware right now in planning for the future would be nuts to buy anything less than a SLI 7900 GTX 512 setup with 2 gigs of PM.

The boyz at Ace Studios (designers of FSX) say FSX will be designed to take advantage of VISTA. Even not running VISTA with FSX your still going to need a big chunk of PM and video memory to get the most out of FSX.

I'll even go so far as to say the 1024MB video cards will be the FSX prime choice. Those guys at Ace work with systems and cards that are NOT on the market and are still in R&D so the software is compatible and/or can be updated for compatibility.

[Joe_D]

I think one of the most confusing aspects for the general public will be just which one of the six versions of VISTA to get.

[born_2_fly]

What I dont understand is why M$ is seemingly distancing itself from the general public. Look at all of the recent releases, when FS98 came out, people used to have it on their computers at work, just to muck about on, now with FS2004, you basically need a dedicated, Hi-Spec system, just for the game. Windows Vista looks to be another one of these specialist operating systems, and with Micorsoft supposedly stopping any technical support for XP 2 years after vista comes out, I wouldnt be surprised if this is the demise of

[ctjoyce]

What MS is doing is promoting the Hardware industry. Quad Core processers will be out by Q4 of 2007, so MS came out with an OS for it. XP dosn't recognise or even use more than 3GB of RAM, when we have 4GB kits out.

And XP having its support cut is no new thing. When MS forced people into 2k they cut the Win98 support withen 2 years.

Sorry guys its just how the world works. And the switch to Apple or Linux will never happen. Mr. Gates owns too much of the market to ever let something like that happen. Hell they own 49% of Apple, do you think he would ever let the death of Windows happen? No. The other big problem with Apple is that they arn't built for the home user. They are built for the Scientist, DJ, or Graphic designer, not the Busness person, or Gamer. Thats the way it has been, and the way it will be.

Cheers
Cameron

[PisTon]

Good news, suprisingly lower requirments than I expected

yep... and THAT is why I have been saying you will need 2GB of PM and a 512mb video card for FSX, especially if you intend to run VISTA and FSX. As always there are minimums that will work... but anyone who purchases hardware right now in planning for the future would be nuts to buy anything less than a SLI 7900 GTX 512 setup with 2 gigs of PM.

The boyz at Ace Studios (designers of FSX) say FSX will be designed to take advantage of VISTA. Even not running VISTA with FSX your still going to need a big chunk of PM and video memory to get the most out of FSX.

I'll even go so far as to say the 1024MB video cards will be the FSX prime choice. Those guys at Ace work with systems and cards that are NOT on the market and are still in R&D so the software is compatible and/or can be updated for compatibility.

Ummmm, The 7900GTXes features will be out of date in less than a year. I'd say upgrading to anything now is a bad choice.

Direct X 10 can use normal system RAM for VRAM, I wouldn't expect anything above 512mb for the first quarter of DX10s life.

E3s Flight Simulator X was on a 7800GTX.

Current high end systems should be fine for fsX, but if you install TONS of payware mods, yeah, you will need nonexisting hardware.

[ctjoyce]

Actually PisTon according to ATi and nVidia there cards are only comeing out in 512MB configs, and we will see 1GB cards soon after.

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

you can already get 1gb cards but they are the quadro and fireGL versions designed for CAD aplications.  No point having 1gb of memory on a card for gaming yet, the textures arn't big enough.

[Joe_D]

Why is MS promoting  VISTA and dropping XP?

Simple.
Gate's vast wealth  consists mainly of MS stock. So, he must keep the stock value high.

One of the best ways of doing this is to insure/increase MS sales by selling the world a new OS!

In a recent interview Gates said that he was a programer, not a buisnessman. Yeah, right, Bill.

[ctjoyce]

Lol, I love how all of you are gripeing about how "Oh god I have to update my OS, cus thats what MS is pushing." Well kids you have to look at the whole picture, not just MS's side. For the last oh, I would say 3~4 years AMD has had 64Bit processers on the market. Intel for the past 2. Thats alot of potential, but due to the lack of a 64Bit OS it is wasted. MS tried to put out a 64 bit OS (Win XP PROx64) but it flopped horrably. So to make those with 64Bit processers who are chomping at the bit for a 64Bit OS MS is working on Vista. And with that CPU manufactures have stepped up to the plate. Intel with their new conroe core, and AMD with socket AM2 (which was just launched today) and their new K8L cores. With all of these improvements we are going to see 4.1Ghz dual core processers, and Quad core CPUs. Both something that XP's core archatexture cannot support fully.

Next up is the world of RAM. When XP was released 256MB was the standird, 512MB for the gamers, and 1GB for those "crazy" people. As programs progressed those numbers shifted up, however XP's recognition of RAM didn't. The most that XP will recognise and use is 2GB, 4GB with a hack, but it wouln't fully utalise the 4GB. With 1GB as todays standird, and 2GB becomeing the gamer standird, XP is soon going to bottolneck the complexity of the programs we run.

Third on our list is Video cards. With the recent launch of Quad SLi, and dual core GPU's XP is again running out of room for improvement, and so are GPU designers ATi and nVidia. A new Direct X was just what they needed. With the new DX, SLi and crossfire will be truely used the way they should be, and the graphics we are going to see soon will be amazing. Personally I forsee that withen three years 90% of gamers will be running SLi systems, and 80% of games will need SLi to run at their max settings (thats ofcurese excludeing the XTX cards from ATi and GTX from nVidia).

Fourth on our list is HDDs. Vista is claiming that it will see a GB as the 1024MB it is, unlike XP where it only sees a GB as 1000MB. therefore we get robbed out of considerable HDD space. I know on one of my 80GB drives alone XP loses me 6GB. Now it dosn't seem like that much, but thats about one game, 1500 songs, or one DVD movie. Personally I want it back, and Vista is giving it to me.

Overall I think that you all will actually like vista. I just tested out the latest build (I know I know, but I was curious) and liked it alot. They cleaned up alot of the issues that were in the last build, and the driver support is MUCH better than 5307.

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

vistas got DRM built in that can't be taken out it's unclean...

[ctjoyce]

Right, and thats stopped the third party world before? Give it a few months and there will be tools to bypass DRM. Hell MS will probibly take that out eventually, as its going to take them time to sit and build it up to what their claiming. I also think that they are going to run into the same problem that sony did. For those who dont know, sony was installing a DRM cookie when you inserted a sony CD. That way you couldn't rip the music. However it was considered a virus, and ontop of that, when you bought the CD you bought the licence. So sony got screwed. MS is going to have the same problem. If we cant use our own media that we "obtain" then people will stay with XP. However this is something I havent run into yet with the Beta. Only time will tell.

Cheers
Cameron

[NicksFXHouse]

You guys dont have to worry about VISA any more than you need to worry about DX10

VISA bugs and driver problems won't be squashed for less than a year or longer from TODAY

[Joe_D]

Le't not forget that Gates wiil discontinue support for XP relativly soon

[congo]

Vista is claiming that it will see a GB as the 1024MB it is, unlike XP where it only sees a GB as 1000MB. therefore we get robbed out of considerable HDD space. I know on one of my 80GB drives alone XP loses me 6GB. Now it dosn't seem like that much, but thats about one game, 1500 songs, or one DVD movie. Personally I want it back, and Vista is giving it to me.

Cameron,

You haven't been robbed of anything. A rock is still a rock, no matter how you dress it.