ZBrushCentral

Vista

I’m hoping to get a new computer this summer, but I’m really on the fence about wether to upgrade to Vista or not. If I don’t, I see updates, support, and performance slipping away over the next few years. If I do, I see compatibility issues, instability, and corporate copyright paranoia-mongers casting a giant shadow.

I know this kind of thread can get annoying, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen one. I hope no-one minds. :wink:

Anybody willing to share their experiences or make any recommendations on PC shopping in general?

I’m glad to be able to add my 2 cents to the subject of Vista. I bought a new PC 3 weeks ago, with Vista Home Premium installed. It’s the 32 bit version. I have 2 Gigs of RAM, dual core processor. I love it. I see so many people upset and disappointed with Vista, but I personally love it. I have only had one crash (blue screen of death) and I honestly think that was something I did myself. The security features (Allow, Deny, etc) that the tv commercials talk about can be disabled, and I haven’t had any such messages since I turned them off. Programs load quickly and the GUI is beautiful. Many people who use graphics programs or play games turn off the Aero visual effects (transparent menus and windows, etc) but I leave mine on. They don’t seem to slow me down at all. ZBrush runs like a dream, and I can have many apps open at once, including Beyond TV which uses alot of resources. I also use Lightwave, Photoshop, and Poser. I have, at one time, had ZBrush3, Lightwave, Photoshop, Beyond TV, Adobe Acrobat, Skype and my email program, as well as Internet Explorer all open at once with no noticeable delay or problems.

I’m sure there will be other responders who can give you the other side of this debate, but personally I am very pleased and would not tell someone to stay away from Vista.

Like I said at the beginning, just my 2 cents.

I’m surprised BSOD can still happen with vista. I’m using ultimate 32bit and it is the most stable PC I have ever! (no point getting vista x64, 'tis not really 64 bit and as slow as 32 bit) And luckily, I never had any BSOD. (at least, yet! LOL ) I usually use zb with maya and various adobe, and although it’s supposed to weigh down my machine, I kept aero on. Prettiest GUI evah! And that includes any mac as of this writing. (Leopard’s core animation looks awesome, but not as cool as Beryl.) Anyway, using aero doesn’t seem to slow down the machine one bit, and I even have dreamScene preview installed. It allows the playing of a video/animation for your desktop wallpaper. (think the default green vista wallpaper animated)

With a tablet on, mine activates the writing tools and other tablet PC features. Like flicks which shortcuts panning up/down, cut/copy/paste, delete with a flick of a pen, and the handwriting is the most accurate ever. (A worm can write prettier than me) LOL. But I use it only if I’m too lazy to move my hands over to the keyboard.

All and all, I still wish I can escape the clutches of microsoft and move to linux (ubuntu with beryl!) but, well… ZB don’t run on linux (without VM emulation, which is pointless) among other things unavailable under linux. So, vista is still the awesomest thing out there.

I have recently upgraded from XP to Vista Ultimate 64Bit.

I chose Vista 64Bit because I now have 4 Gig of ram installed and Vista 64 takes full advantage (unlike the 32 bit), especially while using ZB.

Yes I have some compatibility issues, but those issues will be solved soon with driver updates etc.

My system specs are:

EVGA 680i Mainboard
4 Gig Corsair Dominator 6400C4 Ram @ 900mhz
Dell 24 Inch Monitor
150 Gig Raptor X Hard Drive
E6300 C2D CPU overclocked to 3.15ghz
8800 768 GTX Graphics Card

The only problems I have are with my X-FI soundcard and a few games, which is to be expected as the games were written for XP.

My advice is that if you plan on using over 2 Gig of Memory then go for Vista 64, but check out the websites of your GFX card, important software etc first to make sure they have 64 bit drivers, or at least plan to release some.

Things will only get better with Vista 64, and I can honestly say that Vista64 + 4 Gig and ZB 3 are a lovely combination! My system is still highly responsive working with 18 million polygons (not HD, just normal polys).

Vista also has Ready Boost. ZBrush likes it. On a Laptop with a DuoCore 1.85Ghz (slow) with 2 gigs ram using a 2 gig flash drive (133X) I can set the memory limit to 3.4 gig and work with no lag on 4 to 5 million polys. No problems other than leg dragging vendors not getting new drivers out in a timely fashion. It is stable and pleasant to use. I’ve tested old 98 software on it and it runs fine in compatibility mode.

Ram seems to be more important than anything to ZBrush. For that reason I’m updating to Vista 64 on my home machine and all the Ram I can stuff in there.

wow that sounds cool.
You can get “mouse gestures” within the OS?
Does the writing let you write anywhere on the screen and then it converts it to text? So could you be painting in PS in one screen, move the cursor over to MSN in the other and just “write” the text without having to touch the keyboard?

Untitled-1.jpg

Yep! Let’s see those macs do that, aye matey? :wink: And there are still many other tabletPC tricks that you just have to see for yourself. :stuck_out_tongue: This would’ve been heaven with the cintiq. (regular penabled tabletPC usually detects only 256 level of pressure, even those are hard to find anymore)

That was me showing off my superb hyroglyphics skills LOL :smiley: (and it’s still recognizing the writing!)

Those mac guys are stealing our features then accuse us of copying osx!! (hey, it’s a vista thread) LOL :smiley: j/k j/k

damn thats cool!
hmm i might have to test vista out :slight_smile: