Windows Vista Hardware Requirements: 256mb RAM

[Chaz]

That's 256mb of VIDEO RAM!!!

"A Microsoft strategist told attendees of the TechEd 2005 conference on the Gold Coast last week that Windows Vista's new display driver model may compel users to upgrade to a PC with 2 GByte of DDR3 SDRAM and a graphics card with at least 256 MByte memory, according to Australian PC enthusiast publication APC Magazine."

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews...08_110000.html

Hot damn.

[GrahamGarside]

This OS is over a year away at best yet, those specs won't look so crazy in 12 months and these are probably the top end specs, needed to have all the fancy bits of twirly windowing tat turned on, people who just want a web browsing system will probably be able to get by on far less

[skool h8r]

Yeah, far less as in windows 3.1 It can't be the low end because i'm phoocked if it is. XD

[noob]

Dont worry to much guys.

The actual stats are looking towards
min:
Pentium 700MHz +
128MB Ram
20GB HDD
SVGA 1024 x 768 Graphics

and it looks as if it could take serious advantage of something like
X2 4800+
2GB RAM
SLI 7800GTX
2x 400GB Raid 0 16MB Cache.

I am still trying to get some decent documentation to post on forum. MS tell less to their employees than to the general public!!

It looks as if it will be out between July and December 2006. Probably closer to July

[Exile69]

So, Windows Vista is the new OS? I've heard of Longhorn from a friend. What is that and it's relation to this? Looks interesting.

[chrisbard]

Hypothethical dialogue

WLZ: How many FPS do you have there?
RZF:Well I have between 40 - 60 with my SLI 6800 U in wvst. explorer
WLZ:WOW that is so cool, I have 90 there and if I open ctrl panel drops to 60 with my 7800 SLI
CRB:Bringing up the TSK manager drop to 19 fps, hell I can't play this Vista thing....

[Motivator]

longhorn = code name for vista.
same OS... worse name

[skool h8r]

Originally Posted by chrisbard

Hypothethical dialogue

WLZ: How many FPS do you have there?
RZF:Well I have between 40 - 60 with my SLI 6800 U in wvst. explorer
WLZ:WOW that is so cool, I have 90 there and if I open ctrl panel drops to 60 with my 7800 SLI
CRB:Bringing up the TSK manager drop to 19 fps, hell I can't play this Vista thing....

Are you saying that there's something wrong with 19FPS?

I reckon that vista will follow suit, e.g. win95 needed such speed CPU, win98 needed one slightly faster, etc.

[GrahamGarside]

Vista itself shouldn't be all that cpu dependant if most of the gui is going to be hardware accelerated, that is unless you can't turn the stupid little dog off that will run round trying to help you

[Chesso]

lmao this time he'll be a full 3d model. Yay that get's me so excited ^_^ not!

I know some people will want a fancy gui but just for the operating system itself their going a bit far. What a waste of good hardware me thinks.

[Áedán]

Originally Posted by noob

The actual stats are looking towards
min:
Pentium 700MHz +
128MB Ram
20GB HDD
SVGA 1024 x 768 Graphics

Ahh, that sounds like the usual minimum from MS. IE, utterly unrealistic if you want to actually be able to do anything (other than swap)!

[noob]

Originally Posted by Áedán

Ahh, that sounds like the usual minimum from MS. IE, utterly unrealistic if you want to actually be able to do anything (other than swap)!

Yep just like the min specs for XP

1.5GB HDD
SVGA 600x800
P266+
64MB RAM

Utterly useless - need atleast twice that

Vista actually looks as if its going to really need

1.5GHz +
20GB HDD (OS 10GB inc page file)
SVGA 1024 x 768 with 3D Hardware acceleration (nVidia 6600 +)
512MB RAM +

And thats just for an email box. I hope the OS basically turns off to play games, otherwise no upgrade for me!!

[chrisbard]

I heard that they gave up on directx and replace it with indirect y. Anyone knows more about this?

[skool h8r]

Originally Posted by noob

Yep just like the min specs for XP

1.5GB HDD
SVGA 600x800
P266+
64MB RAM

Utterly useless - need atleast twice that

Vista actually looks as if its going to really need

1.5GHz +
20GB HDD (OS 10GB inc page file)
SVGA 1024 x 768 with 3D Hardware acceleration (nVidia 6600 +)
512MB RAM +

And thats just for an email box. I hope the OS basically turns off to play games, otherwise no upgrade for me!!

No, plain and simply, no. It's just not good business. I think it will need something more like:

500Mhz
3GB HD
SVGA 800x600
256MB RAM

To get a decent machine though, simply double them (except the res which should be 1024x768 for a decent machine).

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by Áedán

Ahh, that sounds like the usual minimum from MS. IE, utterly unrealistic if you want to actually be able to do anything (other than swap)!

This is why I get so upset when my boss asks me about the minimum specs for an application that I write. He says "What is the minimum required hardware to be able to run that application?", and I always respond with, "Do you want to be able to RUN it, or do you want to be able to USE it?".

I have yet to write a Win32 program that won't run on a 16 Mhz '386 with Win95 and 8 meg of RAM. That doesn't mean you could use it on one.

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by skool h8r

No, plain and simply, no. It's just not good business. I think it will need something more like:

500Mhz
3GB HD
SVGA 800x600
256MB RAM

To get a decent machine though, simply double them (except the res which should be 1024x768 for a decent machine).

Every office I've been in for the last couple of years has been stocked with recent-model (i.e. within the last 2 years) PCs. All are P4s of at least 2GHz, with at least half a gigabyte of memory and at least 40GB of hard disc space. Since this sort of rubber-stamp box is now ridiculously cheap, as little as £200 per seat, remembering that companies don't pay VAT, and a lot of times these are leased or on an upgrade deal.

It's not great for small businesses, those with a half-dozen seats buying retail hardware and stumping up all costs, but this has never really been M$'s target market anyway.

[noob]

skool h8r:

It looks as if Vista is a resource hog, and it's 'designed' (read cobbled together from stolen parts) to run and take advantage of modern systems. The GUI is 3D, and requires a 3D capable video card to run fully, and it will be something like a 6600, maybe you could get away with a 5200 or similar.

As probably 90% of machines can run Vista, and it will be slow on older machines. To actually use it, and see all of the new stupid, crappy, ideas you will need a higher spec machine.

Basically MS has been working hand in hand with the hardware manufacturers, and you can imagine what they want as well...

SELL, SELL, SELL, SELL, all new and expensive hardware!

As many companies are on contract, and lease for the hardware, they will just get an upgrade. As alot of people want to run the latest stuff, they will migrate and buy new stuff if needed. As for those who don't typically upgrade hardware, most of those still run 95 or 98, and will never change

[GrahamGarside]

I don't think the hardware requirements for vista will be that much of a problem. XP has been by far the best version of windows released, and there is no real need for an upgrade from it like with previous versions (Win95 bringing 32bit support, XP dropping legacy support)

So anyone wanting a basic home system, capable of nothing fancy, will be sorted just sticking with XP

[kellamne]

Originally Posted by GrahamGarside

anyone wanting a basic home system, capable of nothing fancy, will be sorted just sticking with XP

Agreed - Ive been happy with XP since release, cant see me upgrading as it does everything I ask it to. I really cannot see that changing.