XP vs Vista

I was wondering, which will offer better performance? XP Pro 32-bit, Vista 32-bit (Home/Home Premium/Business) or Vista 64-bit (same flavors)?

My current rig:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2.6Ghz AM2)
2GB Patriot DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12 @ 2.2V)
250GB Seagate SATAII HDD (7200RPM)
80GB WD SATAI HDD (7200)
256MB PCI-e GeForce 7600GT
18x OptiArc DVD+RAM
16x HP DVD-/+RW

I'd stick with XP 32bit.

I also prefer XP over Vista and i run both at home.

Hi
Welcome onboard Hoodsey.
If you are already using XP 32 bit, it would be a waste to go with Vista Home Basic 32 bit.
Save your money & get a program that window dresses XP to look like Vista.
Some of these are free.
If migrating to Vista. Then Business or Ultimate would be my choices.
If using Vista, then increased memory usage makes 64 bit a little more enticing.
So either stick with XP 32 bit (for now).
If going with Vista, then Home Premium minimum.
Definitely check to see if 64 bit is OK with the programs of your choosing.
If no significant problems. Then go with 64 bit.

I have Vista & would switch to XP if I could.If that helps.

Thanks for the input guys. I own 64-bit media for Home Basic (hardwared to my desktop) and Business (hardwared into my MacBook running Boot Camp), and used Anytime Upgrade for Home Basic to get Premium, so I've got a slew load of possibilities. My copy of XP Pro isn't quite... 'legit' so to speak, where the others are. My rig runs Vista fine, I've never had any problems while running it I was just wondering how well DVDFab plays with all versions and if a performance boost was noticeable with 64-bit Vista.

If I were to run Vista it would be the 64 bit version. It is much faster than the 32 bit version of Vista and it is on par with the speed of XP 32-bit, IMO. I personally don't see any reason for me to switch to Vista as it offers nothing I need, or want, over XP.

Couldn't have said it better myself UTR.

Right on. I'm not too far away from removing FISTA from my trusty laptop, which is sadly almost all they come with these days.

fab is faster in XP - I have two similar dell PCs one XP one Vista & have tested the prog on both, but now use it only on the Xp system.

from a clean DVD with Xp I can get DVD to DVd rip speeds of 12 mbs, vista PC rarely made it up to 7 mbs.

both PCs have SATA drives. the XP machine also has RAID. both are core Duo & both have 2GB RAM

VISTA = Visually Interesting SH1t, Terrible Application.

I happen to like Vista. I have been running it since Beta. It is a TON better since SP1 was released. I run 32-bit because I knew I would have driver issues if I went to 64.

I never tried running DVDFab on XP so I can't compare it but it runs good for me.

All that being said, I wouldn't upgrade to Vista on a old machine (anything older than 2007). There is a lot in Vista that takes advantage of new hardware.

And if you buy a new machine, get rid of all the crapware that comes on it. Half the trouble is all that stuff on there trying to load when you boot up.

If anyone cares, I have posted details about the Vista Media Server I built.

I've been using Vista for about a month now and can't say I'd go back to XP...no problems with the programs I typically used in XP.

While I normally buy locally built oem machines, for those who prefer a name brand, Dell is still offering XP on many models. Note: Dell continues to use proprietary hardware on 90%+ of their machines;
if you get a fried mother board or power supply you MUST get the replacement from them. Due to this upgrades are also quite limited (usuallly pci card based add ons, optical drives & possibly a second hard drive are about it)