So far it seems most people have been recommending XPx64 and no one yet has actually recommended Vista.  I have to be honest, my brief hands on experience with the HP Media Center (off the shelf 2.5ghz Q9300, 8mb ram system which was returned last night) I kind of liked Vista 64 when installing apps.  Opening Max 7 on the Vista took seconds whereby opening Max7 on my P4 3.2 ghz 2 gig ram on winXP takes a few minutes.  It seems like a more advanced OS but I am hearing lots of people say performance is still an issue.

I have to make a decision ASAP.

I would really like to here from people running MAX or other 3D apps on VISTA 64.

One possibility is to have XP 64 installed and buy a copy of Vista 64 and add that afterward.
The only reason to install XP first is that once you have Vista installed you will not be able to go back to XP (without a lot of trouble, if at all)
unless you format and put on XP first.
After engaging in this thread I’m thinking about putting Vista on today while I’m off.

Max 2014 64
Windows 8 64

My Game Blog

Bjjames you can’t really compare opening max on a vista machine with 2.5ghz Q9300, 8mb ram system to a Xp P4 3.2 ghz 2 gig ram system, it opened slowly because its a slow machine, on both my machines it opens in about 10 secs or under.

in the end just go with what ever guts telling you, any issues that vista having at the moment i’m surely will get better with sp2. i personally see with max the only difference is a lower framerate in viewport with vista, and i just don’t like that vista was hogging alot of Ram because i usually am using most of my 8 gigs. plus with vista you get DX10 gaming which is why i have it as a dual boot on one of my machines. also Max is eventually going to have proper support for DX10 on vista which is going to mean some really cool stuff for the viewport.

3Ds Max 2012+PU12+SAP / 2013+PU6, Vray 2.4, Photoshop CS6
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (314.22), OCZ agility 3 240GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB…

Well… I have decided to order XP x64 with the new system.  I figure that may ensure better compatibility with my existing legacy WinXP apps.  Down the road I can aways upgrade.  Thanks for all your comments.

its all good, hope you enjoy the new system, what graphics card you decide to go with in the end?

3Ds Max 2012+PU12+SAP / 2013+PU6, Vray 2.4, Photoshop CS6
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (314.22), OCZ agility 3 240GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB…

I know there are a lot of people who will disagree with my choice, but I ended up going with the Quadro FX3700 ($900).  I came to this decision after reading through numerous posts and articles debating wether gaming cards were better than workstation cards.  Because of the other applictions I’mm running (AutoCAD, Revit, XSI) The application optimized drivers for the Quadro seemed to be a good choice.

So far the system configuration is as follows;

Intel 2.83Ghz Q9550 12mb cache 1440 FSB
Asus P5Q-Delux MB Intel P45 chipset
8MB Ram DDR2
Quadro FX3700
4 x 500gb Seagate SATA drived RAID 0+1
LG Lightscrib DVD R/W
Neopower 650W PS
WinXP Pro X64
27” Samsung LCD (from my old system)

So far the total system is comming in at just over $2K excluding monitor

sweet system, graphics card is good choice

3Ds Max 2012+PU12+SAP / 2013+PU6, Vray 2.4, Photoshop CS6
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (314.22), OCZ agility 3 240GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB…

System sounds pretty sweet. I’m building one of my own which will house the new Intel 920 i7 processor. I am also having to make a decision between Vista 64 and XP (either version).

The way I see it is this: I am upgrading, so I see Vista as a step forward. I want to run games as best I can so Vista sounds like a better option. Adobe Creative Suite CS2 Premium will need to work and Max 8 or 2009 will need to work. But this is where I am getting confused. Will 3Ds Max 8 work on Vista 64 with no problems? And will Adobe CS2 be ok?

not sure about CS2 but for max only max 9 with service pack 2 and above will work on vista.

3Ds Max 2012+PU12+SAP / 2013+PU6, Vray 2.4, Photoshop CS6
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (314.22), OCZ agility 3 240GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB…

Vista x64 is best for me nothing to do with preference but since I use the the new PhotoShop CS4
XP isn’t able to use the GPU for faster proccesing

Max