Latest Windows 8 Rumor Says RTM by April 2012

Status
Not open for further replies.

dread_cthulhu

Distinguished
Dec 7, 2010
185
0
18,680
They're still making windows for X86? Why? 64 bit is superior in so many ways, and 90% of applications will run on it. People need to get away from the 32-bit only nonsense.
 

GreaseMonkey_62

Distinguished
Jul 3, 2009
521
0
18,980
I agree. The problem is that even though most of the chips made in the past few years support 64 bit, there are still plenty of 32bit systems out in the wild. However if Windows stops supporting 32bit, people will finally be forced to upgrade.
 

shompa

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2007
72
0
18,630
[citation][nom]dread_cthulhu[/nom]They're still making windows for X86? Why? 64 bit is superior in so many ways, and 90% of applications will run on it. People need to get away from the 32-bit only nonsense.[/citation]

Could you please explain why 64bit is better beside 32bit memory limitation?

A hit: X86 is not real 64bit, it only have 64 bit extensions.
 

socalboomer

Distinguished
Sep 13, 2008
90
0
18,630
[citation][nom]dread_cthulhu[/nom]They're still making windows for X86? Why? 64 bit is superior in so many ways, and 90% of applications will run on it. People need to get away from the 32-bit only nonsense.[/citation]

Because most Atom processors are x86. (Diamondville and mobile Pineview are the only 64bit Atoms so far)

I tried (because I only had the 64bit media handy) to install 64bit on my netbook and it said the processor was not compatible with 64bit so I had to go with 32bit.
 

ram1009

Distinguished
[citation][nom]dread_cthulhu[/nom]They're still making windows for X86? Why? 64 bit is superior in so many ways, and 90% of applications will run on it. People need to get away from the 32-bit only nonsense.[/citation]
Please tell me what benefits I will see by switching to 64 bits.
 

shompa

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2007
72
0
18,630
[citation][nom]GreaseMonkey_62[/nom]I agree. The problem is that even though most of the chips made in the past few years support 64 bit, there are still plenty of 32bit systems out in the wild. However if Windows stops supporting 32bit, people will finally be forced to upgrade.[/citation]

Every X86 cpu sold after jun 2006 have 64bit extensions. Apple stopped 32bit support with OSX 10.7. Micosoft should do the same. People with 6 years old PCs are not prime candidate to upgrade to Win8.

The problem is that software does not get any boost on X86 64bit sine X86 is not a real 64bit processor.

In 1995 when UltraSparc went 64bit, software became almost twice as fast on 64bit, then 32bit.

In windows 64bit software usually are a couple of % slower then the 32bit version.

More importantly: BIOS needs to be killed. It is redicious that they are selling 4 gig grapchic cards, and BIOS can only adress a bit over 2gig. People are so uneducated!

EFI has been around since 2006. If Apple can boot Windows with EFI, why cant Dell? Just removing BIOS make the computer much faster. (this is the reason why Apple Windows machines beats same clocked Dell/HP PCs)
 

triculious

Distinguished
Mar 12, 2010
161
0
18,690
if the beta convinces me I'll upgrade to windows 8 from windows 7 (highly doubt it) but only if it's priced bellow 30 dollars (almost impossible)
 

acadia11

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
899
0
18,980
[citation][nom]ram1009[/nom]Please tell me what benefits I will see by switching to 64 bits.[/citation]


Uhmmm you can address more then 3gb of memory, meaning I can hold alot more of the OS and programs in memory which will always be faster than having to go to hard drive. I can't believe you just asked this question?
 

ram1009

Distinguished
[citation][nom]acadia11[/nom]Uhmmm you can address more then 3gb of memory, meaning I can hold alot more of the OS and programs in memory which will always be faster than having to go to hard drive. I can't believe you just asked this question?[/citation]


Why, were you born knowing the answer to the question?
 

elysiumsoul

Distinguished
Jan 29, 2011
8
0
18,510
[citation][nom]jiangyi[/nom]Until Microsoft lets me install un-signed drivers in x64, I'm sticking with x86.[/citation]


It does let you install unsigned drivers if you like....I do that alot especially with video drivers and I do run a 64bit OS
 

tical2399

Distinguished
Nov 20, 2009
1,081
0
19,460
[citation][nom]ram1009[/nom]Why, were you born knowing the answer to the question?[/citation]


Agreed. The tech snobs make me wanna puke. The funniest part is I bet he only learned of this in the past year or so himself.
 

edwpang

Distinguished
Dec 10, 2001
59
0
18,630
[citation] BIOS needs to be killed. It is redicious that they are selling 4 gig grapchic cards, and BIOS can only adress a bit over 2gig. People are so uneducated! EFI has been around since 2006. If Apple can boot Windows with EFI, why cant Dell? Just removing BIOS make the computer much faster. (this is the reason why Apple Windows machines beats same clocked Dell/HP PCs)[/citation]
Can you explain why removing BIOS can make computer much faster. As I understand, BIOS is only useful for booting the computer, after OS takes control BIOS is not directly called. So by removing BIOS, the computer can boot up faster.
 

razorblaze42

Distinguished
Jun 2, 2009
150
0
18,680
I haven't seen one thing about windows 8 to even slightly peek my interest.

I don't really beleive windows 8 is actually a desktop OS, but rather a tablet and smart phone OS because Microsoft needs something to complete with Android...who btw is kicking MS's butt in that market area.
 

dalethepcman

Distinguished
Jul 1, 2010
1,636
0
19,860
[citation][nom]edwpang[/nom]Can you explain why removing BIOS can make computer much faster. As I understand, BIOS is only useful for booting the computer, after OS takes control BIOS is not directly called. So by removing BIOS, the computer can boot up faster.[/citation]
BIOS is the Basic Input Output System of a computer.
UEFI is the Unified Extensible firmware interface.

The biggest problem with BIOS is that it has a maximum addressable memory size of 1MB, and that it's hard drive support is limited to MBR. With only 1MB of memory there isn't a lot you can cram into the BIOS. An MBR (master boot record) has in inherent size limitation of just over 2 terabytes, and with disks already passing 3TB in size the BIOS needs to die.

UEFI can address up to 9 ZetaBytes (that's 9 billion terabytes)on a single drive, and allows for a full 64bit memory map. So if they wanted to make a motherboard that had the factory restore disk actually built into the UEFI they could.

Class dismissed. =D

 
G

Guest

Guest
64bits is only better than 32bits if you have more than 4G of RAM
 

molo9000

Distinguished
Aug 14, 2010
646
0
18,990
[citation][nom]shompa[/nom]Could you please explain why 64bit is better beside 32bit memory limitation?A hit: X86 is not real 64bit, it only have 64 bit extensions.[/citation]

I'm no expert, but x86-64 doubles the number of general purpose registers (16 instead of 8), which means the CPU needs to access memory/cache less often.
The larger registers themselves should also increase the speed of some operations.

The advantage isn't huge, but purpose made 64bit applications should be faster than 32bit applications.
 

SteelCity1981

Distinguished
Sep 16, 2010
1,129
0
19,310
I say why not support x86 still. I mean there are still a lot of computers out there that can only support 2gb or 3gb of ram that are still very capable of running Windows 8. My Compaq Presario F700 series is a prime example of that. It runs Windows 7 32bit fine with 2gb of DDR2 667 Ram, AMD Turion 64 TL-58 and an Nvidia Geforce Go 6150 IGP.
 

elysiumsoul

Distinguished
Jan 29, 2011
8
0
18,510
The one thing to remember when running stuff in true 64bit,is that your using more memory then you would use running the same program in 32bit.

My system runs faster overall in 64bit,but,in reality it isn't a huge differance from 32bit after you get past the fact that 64bit systems be default,use more system memory
 

MarioJP

Distinguished
Dec 30, 2007
204
0
18,680
I dunno whether the bios limitation is true or not. I just hope EFI is not bloated. The bios in the other hand is exactly that very basic. I keep seeing wonders of bios being modified to overcome limitation. remember the 32gb and 120GB limitation. Turns out it was a service pack issue and depending of the bios as well. So overall its was the combination of all.
 

ram1009

Distinguished
[citation][nom]tical2399[/nom]Agreed. The tech snobs make me wanna puke. The funniest part is I bet he only learned of this in the past year or so himself.[/citation]
Tell me about it. Mosst of the people on this board were still crapping yellow a year ago.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.