Vista - About Vista System requirements

Hello,
Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
item is present?
Thanks,
Van

"VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
> Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
> specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
> hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
> Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
> item is present?

You're talking about the specifications of your graphics card (or
motherboard, if the graphics interface is built in to it). You can look
them up to find out if yours measures up.

Pixel Shader 2.0 is necessary only if you want to use the Aero interface
(not for the Vista Basic display scheme) -- and optional but nice for many
modern games. If you're not a gamer, you could live without it. But if
your graphics card doesn't support at least DX9, you may have problems using
some newer video codecs or programs. Finally, while 128MB and 32-bit color
is pretty standard (and 128MB is probably the minimum that you can get
nowadays), your card should have a driver for Vista (if Vista doesn't
already have one). However, I have gotten a couple of old 64MB pre-DX9 ATI
chipset cards to work using Vista's "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" driver.

The fact is, Vista requires a significant hardware upgrade for the
processor, memory, and graphics over XP and older operating systems. Spend
the money if you want Vista. Otherwise, you'll be disappointed.

Or, you can upgrade to modern hardware, keep XP, and watch it ZOOM!

--
David Dickinson
eveningstar at die-spammer-die dash mvps dot org

"VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B5487CC7-8A7B-4F3D-BFB0-57D78735CF25@microsoft.com...
> Hello,
> Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
> Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
> specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
> hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
> Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
> item is present?
> Thanks,
> Van


None of those are absolutely essential. You'll just miss out on a few
features like Aero, Games and Movie Maker they're not there.


--
Jon

Thank you David and Jon for your input. God bless
Van

"Jon" wrote:

>
> "VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B5487CC7-8A7B-4F3D-BFB0-57D78735CF25@microsoft.com...
> > Hello,
> > Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
> > Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
> > specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
> > hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
> > Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
> > item is present?
> > Thanks,
> > Van
>
>
> None of those are absolutely essential. You'll just miss out on a few
> features like Aero, Games and Movie Maker they're not there.
>
>
> --
> Jon
>
>
>

avoid vista



"VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B5487CC7-8A7B-4F3D-BFB0-57D78735CF25@microsoft.com...
> Hello,
> Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
> Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
> specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
> hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
> Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
> item is present?
> Thanks,
> Van

Why do you say that? I mainly need to test my software application under Vista.
Thanks,Van

"Tiberius" wrote:

> avoid vista
>
>
>
> "VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B5487CC7-8A7B-4F3D-BFB0-57D78735CF25@microsoft.com...
> > Hello,
> > Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
> > Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
> > specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
> > hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
> > Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
> > item is present?
> > Thanks,
> > Van
>
>
>

try vista for 30 days in a virtual machine:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

you need virtual pc that is free...


test your apps there in a virtual machine on top of your current os.




"VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B6507072-14C6-4280-AD6D-5E139348317C@microsoft.com...
> Why do you say that? I mainly need to test my software application under
> Vista.
> Thanks,Van
>
> "Tiberius" wrote:
>
>> avoid vista
>>
>>
>>
>> "VanS" <VanS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:B5487CC7-8A7B-4F3D-BFB0-57D78735CF25@microsoft.com...
>> > Hello,
>> > Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
>> > Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is
>> > required,
>> > specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0
>> > in
>> > hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
>> > Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if
>> > each
>> > item is present?
>> > Thanks,
>> > Van
>>
>>
>>

Hi VanS,

You can download the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft and it will check your computer for you and give you a detailed result of what you have and need to run Vista.

Download details: Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

Hope this helps you,
Shawn

Tiberius wrote:
> try vista for 30 days in a virtual machine:
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
>
> you need virtual pc that is free...
>
>
> test your apps there in a virtual machine on top of your current os.
>
>
Never, ever take capin' crunchs advice. He a linux troll. He does not
have Vista installed. He is a brain dead moron who also happens to be an
idiot.
Kill file his stuck-on-stupid ass and be done with him.
Frank

"VanS" wrote
> Hello,
> Checking the system requirements for Win Vista, it shows-for the HOme
> Premium/Business/Ultimate-that support for DirectX 9 graphics is required,
> specifically: WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 in
> hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.
> Is all of this really necessary? How do I check my system to see if each
> item is present?

One thing to do is run the Vista Upgrade Advisor. It gives you an idea, but
it's not a guarantee.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...deadvisor.mspx

Vista Ultimate runs fine on this nearly 5 yr old P4 with 1GB PC800 RAM. The
only change I made was the video card. The original was AGP 1.0 and did not
support Aero. And it was dying anyway. Vista is installed in a multi-boot
configuration with two XP Pro installations. I almost never boot into XP
anymore.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]