Poor Performance Score in Vista Compatibility Test with New iMac 3.06 gHz

[G4R2]

I'm relying on someone with greater experience using Vista on a Mac might assist me with this relatively minor problem.

I picked up a new 3.06 gHz iMac yesterday and although I don't use Vista I decided to install it as I had acquired Office Ultimate for free and might be able to use some of its features for work (Mac Office 2007 has gotten me through so far but you never know). Vista works fine in Bootcamp and I installed the latest Bootcamp upgrade as well in order to make sure the latest drivers were on the computer.

However, when running the compatibility test the system has scored a 1, largely due to poor graphics performance. I suspect this is probably due to a driver issue with the new graphics card but wanted to have some insight from more experienced users here to see if there was a workaround to improve graphics performance.

Any thoughts?

 

[nick9191]

Did you install the graphics drivers?

Other than that, if its running fine, you don't use it often, leave it

 

[G4R2]

Did you install the graphics drivers?

Other than that, if its running fine, you don't use it often, leave it

Yes, I did install the graphics drivers. I wouldn't have known that this was a problem but for the fact that Vista had turned off Aero because it believes that the system has a poor graphics card. After some digging, I found the options to turn these features on but the OS remains convinced that the hardware is not up to spec.

 

[clevin]

you used apple provided driver?

 

[The Flashing Fi]

Yes, I did install the graphics drivers. I wouldn't have known that this was a problem but for the fact that Vista had turned off Aero because it believes that the system has a poor graphics card. After some digging, I found the options to turn these features on but the OS remains convinced that the hardware is not up to spec.

After installing the drivers, did you re-run the performance test?

 

[G4R2]

After installing the drivers, did you re-run the performance test?

Yes, I performed the test after the drivers were installed and the iMac received poor scores largely due to the graphics. That doesn't mean that I'm not getting full resolution or Aero, just that Vista thinks, for whatever reason, the graphics card is suboptimal.

 

[gnasher729]

Yes, I performed the test after the drivers were installed and the iMac received poor scores largely due to the graphics. That doesn't mean that I'm not getting full resolution or Aero, just that Vista thinks, for whatever reason, the graphics card is suboptimal.

So could you change the thread title to something like "Windows Vista too stupid to handle iMac graphics card"?

 

[G4R2]

So could you change the thread title to something like "Windows Vista too stupid to handle iMac graphics card"?

Vista is too stupid to deal with my own stupidity when it comes to figuring out Vista.

 

[Stridder44]

You know, it's weird. I used to have this "issue" as well. Vista would report my GFX card with a score of 1 (after drivers were installed, test rerun, etc.) but Aero worked fine and games ran perfectly. I reformatted and re-installed Vista later, and now I don't see this issue, it rates it at like 5.9 or something using the same drivers.

 

[G4R2]

You know, it's weird. I used to have this "issue" as well. Vista would report my GFX card with a score of 1 (after drivers were installed, test rerun, etc.) but Aero worked fine and games ran perfectly. I reformatted and re-installed Vista later, and now I don't see this issue, it rates it at like 5.9 or something using the same drivers.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I just needed to be reassured that the Vista install in Bootcamp hadn't messed up despite otherwise working well.

 

[TBi]

So could you change the thread title to something like "Windows Vista too stupid to handle iMac graphics card"?

It should really be "Apple too stupid to release Vista compatible graphics drivers with my iMac". Although i'm sure they do in the newest boot camp driver cd.

I don't know why you'd blame Vista for a driver issue beyond microsofts control? That's like blaming Ford for the big dent you got when you drove into a lamppost...

 

[G4R2]

It should really be "Apple too stupid to release Vista compatible graphics drivers with my iMac". Although i'm sure they do in the newest boot camp driver cd.

I don't know why you'd blame Vista for a driver issue beyond microsofts control? That's like blaming Ford for the big dent you got when you drove into a lamppost...

Without blaming either Microsoft or Apple, I don't think that the graphics card driver is completely at fault as Vista does recognize the correct driver and the graphics card. I'm speculating that since the graphics card does work with Aero and is actually recognized by DX 10 that it is just a matter of the performace tool in Vista having some problems and not reporting the graphics capabilities of the system accurately thereby down throttling Aero and giving the system a poorer rating.

It's been suggested that this has been a problem with other Nvidia GX8800 cards and that the solution is to install the driver again manually by selecting the .inf file, something that I'll attempt when I get home from work.

My larger concern was that something had gone wrong during the Vista install, as frequently occurs when installing a new OS regardless of the manufacturer.

 

[Stridder44]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I just needed to be reassured that the Vista install in Bootcamp hadn't messed up despite otherwise working well.

Yeah, I have no idea. Honestly I wouldn't take the whole Windows Experience Index, or whatever they call it, very seriously. Like I said, it was giving me a score of 1, and I could still run Aero and games at full bore, no issues. Microsoft must've released a patch or something to fix the glitch, because the glitch went away before Boot Camp 2.1 was released.

 

[GSMiller]

If everything is working properly, I wouldn't worry about it. Vista has all these fancy bells and whistles and none of them work like they were intended.