Getting ready to take the 64bit plunge

[momo_izzy]

Okay guys, sometime this week I plan to install Vista 64 on my PC. I'm probably going to buy a separate hard drive so I can dual boot without having to do any partitioning.

I've gone through and already downloaded all the 64 bit drivers I will need. The primary reason I want to upgrade to 64 bit now is so that I don't have to do it later when I start wanting to upgrade my RAM. I also have a quad core processor and I'm assuming I should see some kind of performance boost?

My system:

core 2 quad Q6600
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
4x 1 gig ram
2 raid HDD
ATI x1950 pro
sound blaster audigy se

So a few questions:

1) Will running in 64 bit require anymore power from my power supply than 32 bit? I know it sounds like an odd question but I'm thinking if the 64 bit environment theoretically uses the 64 bit processor to full potential perhaps it will use more power? If that is the case could you suggest a good power supply

2) Other than having the drivers ready, is there anything else I can do to prepare for the transition?

3) What is a good boot manager to use?

4) Is there any reason you can think of for me not to get Vista 64?

 

[notherdude]

Come on in, the water is nice.

1, 2 and 4 the answer is 99% NO on 3 your MOBO has a built in boot manager, it's called a pop up boot menu. Just install each OS to a separate drive and use the pop up menu to select which drive to boot from. On my ASUS p5-B I just press f8 right after powering on and I can choose to boot from any of my four hard drives with OSes on them. Nothing could be easier. Just remember which OS is on which drive.

 

[maximiza]

agree witrh notherdude on 1,2,3 and 4

I did the same thing. It took a week to get all the drivers for all my stuff before installing. I disconnected the existing hard drives and just hooked up my new hard drives when I installed Vista 64bit. Then I just replugged the old ones in. Hit f8 after power on for the boot manager. I only go into XP 32 bit for a few programs which won't work in Vista 64 bit. My OEM Ultimate version came with a seperate disk for the service pack 2. I suggested installing that right after installing vista 64bit. It is a rock solid OS.

 

[LoneEagle]

I agree too.

I have two seagate 320GB in RAID-0 for Vista 64 and another one for Server 2003 (could be XP or whatever). I also use the BIOS bootmanager and work really great and no messing with Boot partition on HD.