performance, compatibility question

[Guest]

I have been looking at Vista for some time now. I have an AMD Turion64,
1.8Ghz 1MBL2 cache with 1GB of RAM, and an ATI Radeon Xpress200M. The vista
compatibility scanner thing tells me that my graphics card will not run Aero.
I have read in the past that DirectX 10, which is not yet released, is
required to run Aero... But I am ALSO reading people's reviews on the system
and they comment on how well Aero does (or doesn't) run. Now I'm confused...
I was told that DirectX 10 is not out, and I was also told that no gaphics
card out there wil run DirectX 10 right now. So, how are all these people
reviewing Aero without DirectX 10? How is this all working?

I guess what I really want to know is:

Will my graphics card run Aero or not? It's 64MB (which I also want
confirmation on, because when I originally bought hte machine, I was told it
had 128-shared... 64mb dedicaed)

Also, based on the specs I have given, can anyone here give their opinion on
how well Vista would run on my computer? (I plan on putting Vista Premium on
here) If you need any more specs in order to make a more educated guess, just
ask me for them. Can you give any recomendations on which features I should
or should not enable when installing the OS?

I'm asking this here because I want a HUMAN, EXPERIENCED opininon on how
well Vista will run on this system.

 

[Gene]

I will make this as simple and painless as possible.
Direct X 10 is part of Vista, and many cards are capable of running it.
Yours? I am not sure about. However, if the upgrade advisor tells you that
your card won't do it, I would venture to go out on a limb and say probably
not. This being said, Aero sin't everything, my notebook doesn't have aero
running, but it still runs Vista fine, and I am happy I have it running.
A lot of emphasis has been put on the Aero graphics, and to many who are not
that deep into it, it is hard to see past. But whether you are running Aero
or not, the advancements in Vista are well worth it. If for nothing else but
the file indexing. Aero is more than just the eye-candy that is over
advertised. It is a great computing innovation.

Sorry, I wish I could give you better news, but an informed consumer is
better than an un-pleasently surprised comsumer


"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

To run Aero, 128mb dedicated is required, but Aero is not a prerequisite ,
so don't worry about it..

"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Guest]

Ok, I'll revise my questions:

First, I am still looking for an answer of what will happen to all of my
"Designed for Windows XP" devices and software... You know? All of those 32
bit devices and drivers?

Also: What will my screen look like WITHOUt Aero? Can I see a screenshot?

Thanks again.

 

[Kerry Brown]

The Radeon Xprress 200M is capable of Aero Glass. With integrated graphics
cards you need 1 GB of RAM and 128 MB dedicated to the graphics card. It
sounds like yours may not have the ability to dedicate 128 MB of RAM.

 

[Guest]

ooh.. ok... So, dam.... the retailer falsely advertised to me.. but Its over
almost a year old now, and I didnt get a warranty... They illegally
advertised this computer to me, and I cant do anything about it.... DAM!

Anywho, my two revised questions still stand (see my second message)

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Device drivers are the responsibility of the device manufacturers.. Vista
has many generic drivers that will get a system up and running, and no doubt
manufacturers will get into gear after the public release of Vista..

This web page gives some idea of the different looks..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista


"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Kerry Brown]

As Mike Hall has already pointed out, drivers are the responsibilty of the
hardware manufacturer. For a one year old computer you shouldn't have a
problem. It sounds like you have a laptop. Have you checked with the
manufacturer? For the video have you tried to change the amount of shared
ram in the BIOS?

Here's some screen shots of Vista Home Basic which does not use Aero Glass.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_rtm_homebasic_gallery.asp

 

[Guest]

You might want to check in the bios to make sure that the bios is set to
allow you to share memory with the 200m... as the 200m should work ..... it
just may be that when your system was built, the bios was not set up to share
memory, no big deal....

Hope this helps........

 

[Rune Moberg]

I will make this as simple and painless as possible.
Direct X 10 is part of Vista, and many cards are capable of running it.

AFAIK, GeForce 8800 is the first GPU to implement DX-10 support.

However, the aero look only requires DX9 capable cards. Runs just fine on my
cheap ATI X1300 based card.

or not, the advancements in Vista are well worth it. If for nothing else
but the file indexing. Aero is more than just the eye-candy that is over

File indexing is one of the first features I disabled. I hate it when some
automated process starts roughing up my hard drives! Same goes for Windows
Defender.