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A Collection of Random Thoughts
Friday, September 09, 2005
 
Windows Vista hardware requirements way overblown
Robert Scoble links to an article in his blog and states that the source they quoted is WAY wrong.  I'm pretty sure that Robert has a newer build of Vista and can't reveal some of the information yet, but the folks that run the Beta program have already said none of the Beta1 information is NDA and we are free to blog about anything we want, including screenshots.  Here is sort of my followup to Robert's post (I think his comments are down again...)
 
I've been reading the comments on the article in questionand am amazed at how stupid (ok, maybe stupid is the wrong word - gullible is more like it) people are and how easily they buy into this information (think Sheep).  I suppose it may be because they think it's from a reliable source, but let me tell you what I've been running my Vista Beta1 on.
 
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (1.8Ghz)
512mb DDR Ram
2x40gb IDE drives with SATA converters running in an SATA RAID0 array
Nvidia GeForce Ti4200 video card 128mb - I'll probably upgrade to a Radeon 9550 or 9600 so I can see how the Aero Glass features look.
 
Vista Beta1 runs absolutely FINE on this hardware.  Ok - I don't get all the cool Aero effects.  For that, you do need a DirectX9.0 video card.  For those that want a list of supported video cards, the minimum requirement is NOT 256mb, rather 64mb, but I doubt you will find a DX9.0 card with only 64mb.  All of the ones I have seen have a minimum of 128mb, with many having 256mb onboard memory.  I don't know if the intention of the author of the article was to increase hatred of Microsoft, but the author does a pretty good job of what I think is misquoting, or at the very least, misrepresenting what was intended.
 
Here's a list of video cards that have LDDM support in Vista Beta1 (i.e. they can display the cool Aero effects).  BTW - this information is publicly available and can be obtained simply by visiting the manufacturers websites (ATI and NVidia) and seeing what cards have LDDM drivers

 

Nvidia Cards

 

GeForce FX 5100

GeForce FX 5200 Series

GeForce FX 5500

GeForce FX 5600 Series

GeForce FX 5700 Series

GeForce FX 5800 Series

GeForce FX 5900 Series

GeForce FX 5950 Series

GeForce PCX 5300

GeForce PCX 5750

GeForce PCX 5900

GeForce 6600 Series

GeForce 6800 Series

GeForce 7800 GTX

Quadro FX 540

Quadro FX 1000

Quadro FX 1100

Quadro FX 1300

Quadro FX 1400

Quadro FX 3000

Quadro FX 3000G

Quadro FX 3400

Quadro FX 4000 SDI

Quadro FX 4400

Quadro NVS 280 PCI

 

ATI Cards

 

Radeon 9500 Series

Radeon 9550

Radeon 9600 Series

Radeon 9650

Radeon 9700 Series

Radeon 9800 Series

Radeon X300

Radeon X600

Radeon X700 Series

Radeon X800 Series

Radeon X850 Series

FireGL X1

FireGL X2

FireGL X3

FireGL Z1

FireGL T2

FireGL V3100

FireGL V3200

FireGL V5000

FireGL V5100

FireGL V7100

FireMV 2200

Mobility Radeon 9550

Mobility Radeon 9600

Mobility Radeon 9700

Mobility Radeon 9800

Mobility Radeon X300

Mobility Radeon X600

Mobility Radeon X700

Mobility Radeon X800

Mobility FireGL V3100

Mobility FireGL V3200

Mobility FireGL V5000

Mobility FireGL V5100

Radeon Xpress 200

Radeon Xpress 200M
 
I'm not going to address the other concerns the article seems to purport yet.  Let's remember that Vista is still in Beta1!  That means we are a long ways from RTM and we've already seen lots of things change.  Beta2 will undoubtedly see even more changes.  I hear that the Sidebar is even coming back!

- posted by Ben Winzenz @ 11:32 AM
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