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Windows Vista 64 bit or 32?
Sceptre
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys, right now I'm looking to make the transition from XP to Vista, but I have a quick question. Currently my rig is set up with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200, and I was wondering if it would be more beneficial to go with the 64 Bit version or the 32 bit version.
I've heard that there are problems with the 64 bit version and gaming, but I wasn't sure of how concrete those were. I play a really wide variety of games, so I want to go with the one that would be most beneficial to gaming.
Any ideas?
I've heard that there are problems with the 64 bit version and gaming, but I wasn't sure of how concrete those were. I play a really wide variety of games, so I want to go with the one that would be most beneficial to gaming.
Any ideas?
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You might run into some compatibility issues with older games and a few newer games with developers that suck. I'm a big fan of Vista x64, but would recommend not leaping into it before you look.
He all but said 32 bit. I use Vista on 32 bit and it runs just fine.
Edit: I also have 2 gigs of RAM.
Steam: pazython
Games are still 32-bit but some might have 64-bit versions available.
negative.
Vista 64 can run 32 bit applications with no problem. Issues can come up for device drivers, but for a vast majority of device drivers if vista is supported then chances are both 32 and 64 bit are supported.
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Man, what are you trying to install that still is packaged in a 16-bit binary? Even SkiFree has been recompiled for 32-bit.
The only time that Vista 64 has been an issue for me was one anti virus program didn't support it but in the end I went with a better program so it was hardly a bad thing. Vista 64 for me has run better than any other program I've had be it Vista 32 or XP, I never had one crash or BSOD. Had it for several months now.
Some might rag on Vista but overall the 64 bit version has been the smoothest running version of them all for me.
Every game that I have tried so far has been having issues. For the record those games are:
Mass Effect
Grid
Half Life 2 and all Orange Box variations
Kotor
It seems to be the same issue across all titles (maybe?)
They all run fine for a while but sooner or later they all crash to desktop. Mass Effect has been most stable, followed by Grid and all HL2 based apps frequently crash. Annoying considering I play a fair bit of TF2.
After 3 weeks of googling and my brother's expert tech support I think the most likely reason for my woes is related to RAM and DX9/10.
I'm surprised no one else in the thread yet has mentioned anything because it seems to be a fairly widespread issue. It's early days though, I guess.
"Who's in Charge Here? DirectX 10? DirectX 9 Games? Pick Two
The problem is that while DirectX 10 manages memory address allocations for GPUs and applications, virtualizing video memory address space allocation, most games still use DirectX 9 (or earlier versions). DirectX 9 and earlier DirectX versions do not manage memory address space allocations, but leave the management task up to individual games. Consequently, when you play DirectX 9 games under Windows Vista, Vista's DirectX 10's busy managing virtual memory addresses, but meanwhile each DirectX 9 game is also managing virtual memory addresses. DirectX 10 and each DX9 game are unaware of the other's activities. Sooner or later, thanks to this 'double-dipping' of address space, the virtual address bucket is empty - and your system heads off to Crashland!"
From here
Also, I just did a BurnInTest and got 77 errors allocating RAM. That confirms my suspicions, doesn't it? Or do I just have bad RAM? It's brand new. Like the rest of my system.
This is all a shame because I actually quite like Vista and the things it improves on over XP. Maybe those things should have been in XP in the first place but that's another matter. It's a little frustrating.
You've got bad ram
or your motherboard doesn't like the ram you got very much... unless it was something you got from a reputable PC manufacturer
Yeah I have SP1.
I was considering switching to 64 bit.
Perhaps I do have bad RAM. Or mobo doesn't like it. That would explain a few things. How do I definitively prove/disprove it?
In those six months, I have had exactly one major crash directly related to the 64 bit-ness, and it didn't bring the computer down or anything--just the program.
I can't attest to performance improvements or lack thereof, but look at it this way: it's not gonna be too much longer before >4gb becomes the standard. You might as well save yourself a reformat and start on 64 now.
In the 8 months with Ultimate x64, only one piece of software will not work. Star Wars: Empire at War and it's expansion, Force of Corruption. LucasArts has acknowledged the problem but refuse to fix it.
Adobe Photoshop does work, but does not take advantage of 64bit processing, and that also pisses me off. Not quite as much as the Audition thing, though.
Well, all I know is that this machine, on 32-bit XP and 2gb of RAM (I'm at 4gb now, part of why I upgraded to 64-bit) ran WiC perfectly before. I haven't had the same problem with other games. Just WiC. :x
T easily work either. As I said, get both and decide for yourself, just remember you lose everything on install so don't load programs for 5 days and then install the other version because of will wipe it all out and stick everything in a sub directory. You'll have to reinstall everything again.
P.S. If you don't plan on getting more than 2 gigs of ram don't bother upgrading to Vista the system slow down is huge. Get 4 gigs or forget it. Something else I learned the hard way.
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
Now, at 4GB of installed RAM, you've got a bit of a dilemma to sort out. By moving to 64-bit, you will be able to address the full amount of RAM on your system, assuming no compatibility issues exist with your motherboard (which should be pretty rare with modern hardware). In the move to x64, it's important to realize that for all 64 bit applications you run, they will use more memory than their x86 counterparts. They store data in 64 bit words, instead of 32 bit words. So, you might end up installing x64 and end up basically breaking even on the amount of memory truly available to your system. The further you venture above 4GB installed memory, the less likely this becomes. I
And as far as drivers go, meh, you should have little problems. Hell, I wanted to use a second soundcard for some stuff so I went and dug up an old Creative Soundblaster one, put it in a PCI slot and booted up Vista.
I searched the Internets for drivers and had no luck at all, not even on Creative sites, but I ran Windows Update and it found drivers for it and installed them all and now it works perfectly -- this is with a PCI soundcard that is who knows how many years old on the 64-bit version of Vista.
Any ideas?
Well, being able to run everything does. And even if you can address more ram, unless the applications are designed for a 64bit operating system they're limited to using only 2gb and most don't hit that.