Win xp vs Vista vs 7

[DanielSK]

Hy guys,

I have a small group of rendering machines (about 10-12)

All of them are the following specs

M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

Corsair XMS3 16GB (4x4GB)

some have 120GB HDD and some I have already changed for a 90GB Corsair Force GT SSD

I'm going to change for LGA2011(3930k).

But the question is the following, I use them to render animations in 3DSMAX, some what like cinebench.

Some of them have Windows XP and some Windows Vista. Here in Brazil the Win7 Professional costs around 350 dollars directly from microsoft. Do I gain something, or enough changing my windows version in rendering time, or it`s better investing on some other thing?

 

[xCeased]

In my opinion Daniel, i would buy windows 7 or wait a while because the new windows operating system (windows 8) is being released this year so i'm guessing windows XP is going to die so most of the developers won't develop new software for windows XP, and with vista, don't go there it's useless and slow, I'd pay for windows 7 and use its compatibility mode for previous versions of software, or wait for windows 8 (probably releasing in the summer) and have a new operating system with compatibility mode for previous software versions, also your components would probably be faster on a windows 7 install as newer drivers can be installed which in your case would boost your rendering times alot,

Just bare in mind these are my opinions and you are subject to your own, but i think that windows 7 is a brilliant operating system and its worth the upgrade

 

[tharionos]

xp or windows 7

xp is good enough i think but whatever u do don't get vista

windows 7 is good but xp still has its benefits i think

 

[dipzy]

Both Xp and Windows 7 are good, as others have said don't go with Vista, its just a pain the arse

 

[DanielSK]

I already have them runnig windows xp and windows vista, I think I will leave it as it is, only a few run vista and it's to expensive to change for win7

 

[AverageNinja]

Windows 7. Even my rig runs it perfectly fine!

 

[Lollipop]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLhIdM3r7yA

 

[JackyBoy]

Why don't you try Linux? My render servers run Ubuntu then you can render with Vray standalone on them.

 

[DanielSK]

I render with 3dsmax and v-ray pluggin, can I use Linux? (it would be awesome) ps.: I don't know almost anything about programming

 

[Rastalovich]

It's gotten to the stage where you can use Linux for almost anything.

Free baby, so why not give it a go, depending on your timeline.

 

[JackyBoy]

You would need 1 machine with windows on as your main workstation, but all render servers can be on Ubuntu. They just run vray, instead of 3ds max too. You can always send an email to chaos group, think they are pretty good with support on these matters.

 

[Gothique Doll]

Also, if you do need XP legacy programs, some Windows 7 license types include an XP virtual machine licence. I know Ultimate does and this Microsoft information page says Professional also includes it. You can download the virtual machine after installing Win 7.

 

[DanielSK]

I think I decided, I won't buy windows 7 since it would cost something like US$5,000, would make much more sense buy new motherboards and CPU. I have sent a message to Chaosgroup about Linux, would be awesome, specially because I'm planning to use only SSD's (except for my server of course), I would be able to use very small and cheaps SSDs, I would love to go Linux! But if it is impossible, I will keep them running windows xp as long as there is support for it.

 

[JackyBoy]

Keep me informed as to what they say as I am very interested in hearing their response!

 

[JazmaN]

i would buy windows 7 or wait a while because the new windows operating system (windows 8) is being released this year so i'm guessing windows XP is going to die so most of the developers won't develop new software for windows XP

XP hit end of life at the start of 2012 its no longer supported. It gets brushed under the rug for good in 2014

i loved that OS