I won't say that I am an expert overclocker also, because I'm not. However, the OS has everything to do with overclocking. If the drivers are below par, then the hardware doesn't perform. If the hardware doesn't perform, then stability will difficult and at higher overclocks virtually impossible. We need a balance of good hardware, good BIOS tuning, trouble free drivers and most definetely a bug free OS. Too early to say anything about 7. We hope that it is what the hype says, because 90% of us rely on Microsoft however, only time will tell. XP on the other hand, is probably still the most reliable OS on the market but it doesn't come with dancing fairies on your Desktop Screen.
Actually, a truly stable system will run XP and Win7 as well as each other. Win7 is just more sensitive to instability, and if there's instability, it doesn't count as an overclock, imo.
I didnt realize a CPU and RAM depended on a driver. As for a bug free os, that is technically impossible. There will always be bugs, but indeed a stable os needed and I think Win 7 easily qualifies in such a way. It may not be perfect but neither is XP, and if 7 was bug ridden as Vista was, then I am sure by now that would be an overly obvious case.
First of all, everything depends on everything. The heart may run the human body, but without any other organ, the body would die nevertheless. If we were to do an overclock with the same hardware on these different OS's, I would reach a much higher overclock faster on XP. Lastly, are you actually comparing stability between an OS that's 8 years old against one that just came out a month ago? No experience talking there ,I'm afraid.
You can get further with XP, then use it for a week and tell me it didn't randomly crash or BSOD at least once.
Personaly, I like to test overclocks with Vista64 SP1 & no updates other than drivers. I copy 100,000 small files while doing a CPU & GPU full load test, and while searching the file contents of the entire C: drive. If this does not crash a system, then the system is rock solid.
Of course, but believe me after Vista, Microsoft have to do a lot to convince me. I am currently on 7 as I'll be setting up my RAID tomorrow and I am already infested with adobe flash player problems and explorer. After it crashes I can't start IE unless restart! Fastest trouble ever! Can U believe this? By the way, it's 7 Ultimate!
That's a pretty solid test for all except graphics overclocks. I test those thoroughly both with synthetic (3dmark, OCCT) and real (games like UT3, Crysis etc) applications.
Im not going to say 7 is with out a doubt as solid as XP, sure theres probably some bugs to work out, but I have yet to hear of any major reoccurring bugs. Even then lets not forget, that beloved XP you swear by, wasnt always the icon it is today. 7 Ultimate here and I havent had such problems. Your the first I have heard of it. As for Vista, people need to quit living in the past. Yes there were a number of issues with Vista, and driver support can still be finicky on OEM products to this day. None the less, unless i missed it, i didnt catch what your holding on to XP for? Higher OCs? Whats the point if your not utilizing it to the fullest? In the case of gaming if your not running 7 you cant utilize DX11, and if your a hardcore gamer those differences are surely important. So what good does a higher oc do if you have to utilize different OSes do do whatever it is your needing to do. If this were linux and windows, of course I could understand but i just dont see a point in a dual boot Windows system anymore.
If people innately hate something they can always find problems with it because they go looking for something. There's no benefit to XP for overclocking, it's just a placebo.
By the way, this is not a DUAL BOOT. Dual Boot is when you have 2 OS's on the same HDD and this is not the case. I am not a hardcore gamer at all, my brother likes gaming instead. I prefer to reach high clocks on my components whilst reaching stability on my system. That is what gives me a buzz. I am an Anime fanatic and enjoy palying games also but I wouldn't say hardcore because, NO BLOODY TIME! Too much work. I have my own personal vendetta with Vista so let's just leave it at that. Finally if you haven't been paying attention to what has been said I also run 7 on my rig so I don't really get this XP paranoia. Old is gold and that's that!
Lets not get picky because your booting 2 oses off 2 drives, its booting two oses, call it what you like, the point remains the same. As for gaming and benchmarks, it makes no difference. If you can reach the same oc and stability on XP or 7, your not saying why your choosing XP. Yes lets hold a vendetta over an OS because of its initial state of despair. Fact is, its still not the greatest OS but its a very good one none the less, but there not much reason to stick with Vista when 7 is out. There is no XP paranoia. Your sorely mistaken. I am not running XP in to the ground at all. Nor have I even made any negative comments towards XP. It has its place in the market but I just cant find a reason to hold on to it anymore.
With the possible exceptions of the operating systems from the PS3 and Xbox360, Windows 7 is the best gaming operating system yet. It supports all the new titles, and with proper hardware, it can dominiate the PS3 and the Xbox360. Linux may be faster and more reliable, but most games won't play. The same is true for Snow Leapord. XP is outdated, and is realy only for outdated hardware & mini-pcs like the Asus EEEpc.
That is a no no. I have the Asus Eee PC 1000 that came with 2 SSD's (8GB and 32GB). I have XP on the 8GB and the rest of the programs go on the 32GB. When I tried XP on the 32GB, it was shockingly slower than the smaller drive so I had to re-install it once more. 7 of course will not fit on my 8GB so, performance wise, XP should be better given the HDD sizes.
Replying to your last post on the closed thread: There are SATA & SAS RAID cards that work from a PCI slot. They are designed for PCI-X slots, but most of them will work in a normal PCI slot. I have an old Adaptec 2610SA controler...it is 64-bit, 66MHZ PCI-X, but it works fine with 32-bit 33mhz PCI (it is just SATA150, and only 6 ports, so PCI does not slow it down much). Sadly, the cheap thermal tape that adaptec used melted and let the heatsink drop off, causing it to overheat...ever since it has run super-slow. I need to update my sig to remove that...
