[color:"orange"]I've seen reviews of a 30-50% framerate hit just in switching from XP to Vista (32bit). I'm not sure what the average is for DX9 games, though, or if the 64 bit version is any better or worse.[/color]
I've tried a few other games that were designed for XP (32-bit) in Vista: Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines, S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl, X3 - Reunion, Eve Online and The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion. All seem to have similar performance to XP (well, no noticable difference, anyway.) Beyond Divinity's performance problems in Vista are glaringly obvious, however, if you compare it with all my other games.
[color:"orange"]Does either game support DX9 / XP? If so, do you get better performance in XP?[/color]
Yes, they both support DirectX9 and 10. Bioshock gives me about the same performance with both versions. Similar story with Lost Planet, except the framerate goes through the floor if you turn the highest-quality shadows on. Not as bad as Beyond Divinity, admittedly, but I think performance suffers too much with ANY hardware if you enable high-quality shadows on Lost Planet at this point; but I digress.
[color:"orange"]Does the game resolution make a big difference with the frame rate?[/color]
It does slightly. A 10 fps increase on average with 1024 x 768 instead of 1920 x 1200, but my LCD screen looks terrible in anything other than it's native resolution (1920 x 1200) so I wouldn't want to leave it like that. I'd expect to be able to run a game like Beyond Divinity at a reasonable framerate when compared with Bioshock, etc. at that resolution.
[color:"orange"]If you start the game, do you notice any significant performance differences between XP and Vista, or any slowdowns or stuttering in either? Even if the configuration test gives a lower fps in Vista, there may not be much noticeable difference in the game itself.[/color]
The configuration test is a joke on any OS in my opinion. It's only displaying a 2d graphic with some lighting effects. I get a constant 60 FPS in that test (which is my monitor's refresh rate, so it looks like v-sync is enabled) in both XP and Vista, but nothing close to that in the game. Basically the game's FPS in XP is playable, and Vista x64 plays at a fraction of the framerate. That's all I can say, and I've tried 2 display driver sets in Vista now, which play all the latest games and most other older games fine, and all my other drivers are up to date.
