Vista's Problem Children On Server 2008

[hoak]

NVIDIA's SLI and Creative's X-Fi hardware and drivers are two hardware paths that just don't work as well on Vista as they do on XP, or Server 2003. The same SLI'd video configuration does not show similar performance gains on Vista that it does on XP and Server 2003...

Similarly Creative's X-Fi hardware loose a lot of it's CPU sparing performance advantage on Vista it confers on the older OS's -- which some have suggested is due to the fact that a lot of the sound DSP must be done in software by the driver with Vista and not on the APU.

The issues on Vista isn't just about poorer performance, but buggier performance: video anomalies, stability issues, audio sync issues, noise popping -- pretty much the full gambit of things that can go wrong have been part and parcel of SLI and X-Fi Owner's experience with Vista.

I'm wondering if we have any Users here on MSFN that are giving the Server 2008 as a Workstation a go that are using NVIDIA SLI video setup, or a Creative X-Fi sound card, and what their experience has been?

Edited May 5, 2008 by hoak

[Prinecss Thedia]

X-Fi sound card cannot be configured properly. As soon as the sound card is enabled in Windows, it starts producing crackling noise unless the driver is removed and reinstalling doesn't seem to help, either. I had no trouble using it on XP Professional and 32-bit Vista Enterprise. When I first installed 64-bit Server 2008, the sound card seemed to work properly, but I had other issues with other hardware/software. I guess this is a lose-lose situation.

[cluberti]

For the crackling, did you try this?

[hoak]

Well, I decided to give it a go, and I have both X-Fi audio, and SLI'd video on the PC I decided to try Server 2008 out on (as a Workstation/Game Rig)... My results with X-Fi audio have been favorable though I still get some noise/popping under some circumstances.

SLI is another matter, it 'appears' to work as you can enable it, but the NVIDA diagnostic to test how the various SLI render modes are performing (or if they're even working properly) isn't even available in the control panel. NVIDA System Tools don't work, and nTune has very limited functionality -- and is very slow to respond...

So far I'm favorably impressed with Server 2008 as a Workstation, it's definitely an improvement from Vista for a PC game-rig platform...

Edited May 7, 2008 by hoak

[hoak]

Well now that I've fully explored driver configuration, tweaking, and Server 2008 features & settings I can say there's a lot to like in Server 2008 (as a Workstation), but like Vista, far too many issues with software and drivers for to be considered a 'Next-Gen' replacement for its previous '2003' iteration, and to be a better candidate for some production environments. In my case that would be game development; as I've seen far too many crashes, lock-ups, and functional (and functionality) issues to use Server 2008 as a replacement for Server 2003 as a workstation/production platform -- or even a just-for-fun 'Game-Rig'.

Hopefully Microsoft will give more recognition to how it's operating systems are actually used, and Server 2008 will continue to see improvements that make it more viable as a robust and versatile platform that include applications as a Workstation OS... Failing that -- I hope Fans will continue to explore and discover means to bring Server 2008 up to the level of the well behaved workstation platform one can roll with Server 2003... So, for now, for me at least; it's bye-bye to Server 2008...

Edited May 8, 2008 by hoak

[bboy_sonik]

The dedicated soundcard is actually loosing more and more popularity, FYI. Onboard sound is becomming more and more advanced, and with the new Intel i7 chip the performance boost that a "dedicated hardware card" promises is next to nothing.

Soundcards are still popular in the audio/music production sector though, but the X-Fi is as good for Professional Audio as a CMI-8738 anyway lol (for those who don't know, they sell for about $10).

[as far as I know]Vista doesn't support EAX anyway, only OpenAL and DirectSound, the only thing X-FI cards do in Vista/2008 is provide the DAC and fancy ports[/correct me if i'm wrong]

Sorry to tell you, but the Creative soundcards are a dying breed.

Oh and in regards to XP/2003 being better as a work environment than Vista/2008, sorry but I disagree 100%. I tried to do some work on XP the other day, and after using Windows 6 for nearly a year now I can't live without it. That reminds me - what you said right there reminds me of what everyone was saying when XP came out... "XP sucks, its so buggy and incompatible! I'm going back to Windows 98, its faster and more stable!"

Edited January 10, 2009 by bboy_sonik