Coming back to Windows Gaming

[examancer]

I have not used windows for a couple years and have been exclusively using linux... except at work. For those past two years my thirst for gaming has been quenched by console gaming exclusively (mostly Xbox 360). Console gaming has been good to me and has kept me from feeling like I need to jump back into the PC Gaming scene... but two years is too long. I recently got the strategy itch and there is really no solution for it on the console. I want to play Supreme Commander, Sim City 4, Sim City Societies (when it comes out)... and I want to play around with mods for games like Half-Life 2 and Oblivion. The time has come to get back into PC Gaming.

So what is a linux guy to do? WINE is an option, but so far I haven't seen anybody successfully get Supreme Commander working under WINE, and to get most WINE solutions to work you need to use the libraries from a legitimate windows copy, so I'd have to buy windows anyways. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I'll have to go back to dual-booting windows and linux... which is fine... but I've been out of the scene so long that I have a few questions.

Windows Vista or Windows XP? I'm building a new computer and the OEM software pricing is fairly similar. I hear lots of bad things about gaming on Vista... but sometimes people make things out to be worse than they are and its hard to distinguish between whats FUD and whats not. I'd rather have an OS that will have long term support (Vista). I don't mind dealing with a few bugs here and there (like I have a choice) and expect to do regular driver and software updates. If gaming on Vista is doable I'd prefer to go that route, but if it really isn't please let me know.

If Vista is an option... Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate? Is there anything crucial I'm missing out on with any of the Home versions? Since this will be my first time paying for an OS in a very long time I want to make sure I can take full advantage of the Vista/Xbox360 integration. I want to be able to stream movies to my 360. Is this feature limited in any of the versions? I don't need eye candy... just ability to play games and stream to my 360... my linux set up has more than enough eye candy for me and is what I will mostly be using when I'm not gaming.

This is not flame bait. I am not trying to start a war here. I'm just a confused linux guru slash console gamer slash ex-windows gamer looking for some helpful advice, and the Anandtech community is one of the most knowledgeable communities I know (frequent lurker, first time poster). Sorry about the long post

 

[invidia]

Go with the safe route and take Windows XP. Vista works for some but not for all. It's dependent on hardware, so it varies from user to user.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: examancer
I have not used windows for a couple years and have been exclusively using linux... except at work. For those past two years my thirst for gaming has been quenched by console gaming exclusively (mostly Xbox 360). Console gaming has been good to me and has kept me from feeling like I need to jump back into the PC Gaming scene... but two years is too long. I recently got the strategy itch and there is really no solution for it on the console. I want to play Supreme Commander, Sim City 4, Sim City Societies (when it comes out)... and I want to play around with mods for games like Half-Life 2 and Oblivion. The time has come to get back into PC Gaming.

So what is a linux guy to do? WINE is an option, but so far I haven't seen anybody successfully get Supreme Commander working under WINE, and to get most WINE solutions to work you need to use the libraries from a legitimate windows copy, so I'd have to buy windows anyways. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I'll have to go back to dual-booting windows and linux... which is fine... but I've been out of the scene so long that I have a few questions.

Windows Vista or Windows XP? I'm building a new computer and the OEM software pricing is fairly similar. I hear lots of bad things about gaming on Vista... but sometimes people make things out to be worse than they are and its hard to distinguish between whats FUD and whats not. I'd rather have an OS that will have long term support (Vista). I don't mind dealing with a few bugs here and there (like I have a choice) and expect to do regular driver and software updates. If gaming on Vista is doable I'd prefer to go that route, but if it really isn't please let me know.

If Vista is an option... Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate? Is there anything crucial I'm missing out on with any of the Home versions? Since this will be my first time paying for an OS in a very long time I want to make sure I can take full advantage of the Vista/Xbox360 integration. I want to be able to stream movies to my 360. Is this feature limited in any of the versions? I don't need eye candy... just ability to play games and stream to my 360... my linux set up has more than enough eye candy for me and is what I will mostly be using when I'm not gaming.

This is not flame bait. I am not trying to start a war here. I'm just a confused linux guru slash console gamer slash ex-windows gamer looking for some helpful advice, and the Anandtech community is one of the most knowledgeable communities I know (frequent lurker, first time poster). Sorry about the long post

If you have relatively recent hardware (I don`t mean a DX10 video card, just generally recent hardware), then go Vista. I have been on it for several months and have no problems gaming. There is also this thread:http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2137017&enterthread=y which has a discussion that may assist you in making your final decision. In my opinion, for gamers, there is no reason to get XP over Vista anymore, unless you are running on antiquated hardware.

I know nothing about the 360, nor do I have any desire to know anything about it, so someone else will have to help you there.

KT

 

[examancer]

Thanks for the tips. After reading that thread you pointed to it seems to me that I can probably swallow any problems I may encounter with Vista. Now the remaining question is which flavor of Vista to go with... Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate? Also forgot to ask if there are any problems with 64bit versions? Last time I was a windows user Windows XP 64bit had just come out, drivers were horrible, and it was useless for gaming. It looks like that has changed, but wanted to double check.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: examancer
Thanks for the tips. After reading that thread you pointed to it seems to me that I can probably swallow any problems I may encounter with Vista. Now the remaining question is which flavor of Vista to go with... Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate? Also forgot to ask if there are any problems with 64bit versions? Last time I was a windows user Windows XP 64bit had just come out, drivers were horrible, and it was useless for gaming. It looks like that has changed, but wanted to double check.

Any retail version of Vista is fine as the key works for both 32 and 64-bit versions, however you would have to request a 64-bit DVD from MS for $10 if you don't get Ultimate or 64-bit versions of Home/Business. You could also borrow the 64-bit version from someone who has it and use your own key. I'd definitely go with 64-bit and 4GB (2x2GB) minimum as some of the games you're looking at can and will make use of 2-3GB just for the game.

XP 64 has come a long way from what I've read and is very close to XP 32 in terms of performance and compatibility. Vista 32/64 still have some incompatibilities as others have mentioned, but most have been worked out or remain broken for older hardware/software. If you're buying a new OS with new hardware, you're better off going with Vista at this point imo. You'll get DX10 support going forward along with improved features like SuperFetch, Search Indexing, and various desktop/navigation features.

As for strategy games, there's quite a few good ones on PC for sure. Personally I'd just get World in Conflict and Company of Heroes+Opposing Fronts and just skip Spam Commander completely.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: examancer
want to play Supreme Commander, Sim City 4, Sim City Societies (when it comes out)... and I want to play around with mods for games like Half-Life 2 and Oblivion

Its out already and i wouldn't get it. Maxis didnt make it and apparently its nothing like sim city and not very good at all.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: examancer


So what is a linux guy to do? WINE is an option, but so far I haven't seen anybody successfully get Supreme Commander working under WINE, and to get most WINE solutions to work you need to use the libraries from a legitimate windows copy, so I'd have to buy windows anyways. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I'll have to go back to dual-booting windows and linux... which is fine... but I've been out of the scene so long that I have a few questions.

I am kinda in your position. I want to convert to linux entirely, but I love PC gaming, which prevents it totally.

You would have to purchase legal copies of the games in question regardless of whether you run them under WINE or dual boot with Windows though.

The Wine App Database has listings for most games, as well as other software. Catch is, because there are so many PC games and limited testers, the latest versions of WINE aren't checked on every game. For example, when I pull up Medieval 2:Total War, its listed as Bronze status, but with Wine version 0.9.47 and 46. The current version of Wine is 0.9.52. Support may have improved, or degraded between releases.

Also, SupCom is listed with Silver support using Wine 0.9.48 under Ubuntu 7.10, though apparently sound does not work. Text

Forged Alliance fares slightly worse, only getting Bronze support under Ubuntu 7.10 with Wine 0.9.51. Text

 

[examancer]

Thanks for the tips. Sounds like I'll be installing Vista Home Premium (not really seeing much value in Ultimate and Premium is only a few dollars more than Basic) 64bit version on my brand new hardware, which will most certainly be DX10 capable. I'm not going to skip Supreme Commander (I've already played it, and although its crazy resource intensive its a great game and I'm an old Total Annihilation fan). Thanks for the info on Sim City Societies (probably skipping that) and the other strategy game suggestions.

I'm not a hardware fan boy for anyone these days, but I'm objectively leaning towards an Athlon X2 5000+ or greater CPU with an ATI 3850 VPU and at least 2GB RAM (maybe 4GB). Intel/nVidia have some faster parts out there, but the AMD parts are just so damn cheap right now I doubt I'll miss the 5 - 20% of extra performance I'd get for $$$ more money.

Thanks for all the advice. Time to start building

 

[vesuvius333]

For Oblivion mods check out this site. It's the elderscrolls site here is the link http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsfor...860644470&showforum=25

 

[Mem]

I'd rather have an OS that will have long term support (Vista). I don't mind dealing with a few bugs here and there (like I have a choice) and expect to do regular driver and software updates. If gaming on Vista is doable I'd prefer to go that route, but if it really isn't please let me know.

If Vista is an option... Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate? Is there anything crucial I'm missing out on with any of the Home versions? Since this will be my first time paying for an OS in a very long time I want to make sure I can take full advantage of the Vista/Xbox360 integration.

I have been using Vista x64 HP for about a year now for general use and especially gaming(50+ plus games installed),gaming is fine in Vista ,drivers are not a problem for 99% of users since they have matured in the last 12 months,some XP users would like you to think Vista has serious gaming issues which it does not.
I have not encountered any 32 bit game so far that I can't run,I'm also doing beta game testing as well and my Vista x64 is doing fine so far.

My XP PC is only used for updates nowadays thanks to the excellent stability etc of my Vista x64 HP.
Home Premium version is the favourite among most users.

There has been regular driver updates for Vista as more companies start shifting towards the newer OS,Windows Update has had quite a few Vista updates in the last 12 months or so ,SP1 is around the corner too(note RC version is already out).
Btw I have Steam based games installed(CS,DoD etc) and also Morrowind/Oblivion with mods,no issues to report.

I forgot to meantion that there's no 16 bit legacy support in Vista x64,so your very old 16 bit software/games won't run,this is not an issue for most Vista x64 gamers,if you need 16 bit support go Vista x68(32 bit version) or dual boot etc.