Settle a debate: how many of you use a 64-bit OS or >=4 GB RAM?

[StevieD]

Vista64, Quad 6600, 8GB RAM.

 

[martyjs]

I have 64bit CPU, 64bit Vista Ultimate with 2GB ram. I bought this option with a Motherboard that supports up to 16GB of Ram for a cheap upgrade when 2GB and 4gb sticks gets cheaper.

My new beast has only been running for about 3 weeks, I,ve had no problems with drivers and so far no problems with games. It's smooth and fast.

 

[bliq]

Considering that less then a handful of the THG forum users have used servers let alone multiple servers your survey will be flawed.

I have over 100 servers in house and have found that a 64-bit Redhat running more than 4GB (most of my machines run 8-32GB RAM) is far superior to the 64-bit win2k3 servers running more than 4GB of RAM.

If you are looking for a personal machine responses.
I prefer 32-bit Linux or 32-Bit Windows (Vista) with 4GB. Yes it is true that windows cannot support the full 4GB but i have run into very little issues with this setup. In my opinion the 64-bit windows OS's do not have the driver support needed to be easily used and maintained.

I wonder how many of us *are* sysadmins. judging from the knowledge on this forum about some pretty obscure stuff, I'd say there were more than a handful.

I manage about 650 servers with a team. I too use 64bit (dual proc, dual core mostly) with 64bit OS, 16GB of RAM is our standard. I can't imagine having to do it with WIndows. I think it would suck. I've managed a farm of 250 windows boxes and it was a nightmare.

 

[bliq]

@Ivdax

bollocks!! I use 64 bit for years now (linux, xp and vista) and I do 3d modelling, animation and compositing! you got no clue how usefull 64 bit is for such programs. and who said you don't get the drivers??

64b is great for servers and for dedicated workstations for things like what you use it for, but somewhat less so for more general use. like no native flash for instance. and there is a real dearth of 64bit drivers for more obscure hardware.

 

[Noya]

I think people are not being honest OR are hitting the wrong bullet.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

I think people are not being honest OR are hitting the wrong bullet.

I almost hit the wrong one, I had to read carefully.

 

[halcyon]

Its interesting to see how many folks are using >= 8GB of RAM. TBH, I routinely don't use more than 6-6.5GB. So what are people doing that would use 16GB of RAM? I'm also wondering why Vista 64 seems (subjectively) to run so so much smoother than Vista 32. When I largely unload the OS, Vista 64 only uses 1.4-1.8GB of RAM ...so again, what are people doing that uses 8-16GB of RAM, even my large video editing projects don't seem to use that much. I guess 3D modeling? CAD/CAM?

 

[saintones]

Good thread.. Even though I think the problems with Vista continue to be overstated by "some"(Mainly people who don't use it and just complain).. I hope Microsoft does learn a lesson and give us what they promoted last year with patches.. If any of you read PC Gamer, they had a VP from Microsoft touting how Vista would change gaming forever.. Instead they gave us an OS that continues to lack the support that they stated was a thing of the past.. I wish I had the article still... It bothers me that they try to appeal to as many uninformed people as they can as a marketing gimmick for sales, instead of giving us a truly good product..

 

[badge]

Well, I can copy a DVD to hard disk, burn a copy, watch an NBA game via digital satellitle, have multiple streaming videos running watching several live streaming broadcasts simulatneously, manage online accounts with multiple explorers running, type answering email, search my JPEG files on storage drive, crop a funny pic in Elements, save to Word, do a search, etc. ALL at the same time with little lag or hesitation noticable. It's very cool.

I demand my OS be committed to RAM. If Superfetch version 2 Pro is willing.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Well, I can copy a DVD to hard disk, burn a copy, watch an NBA game via digital satellitle, have multiple streaming videos running watching several live streaming broadcasts simulatneously, manage online accounts with multiple explorers running, type answering email, search my JPEG files on storage drive, crop a funny pic in Elements, save to Word, do a search, etc. ALL at the same time with little lag or hesitation noticable. It's very cool.

I demand my OS be committed to RAM. If Superfetch version 2 Pro is willing.

You need megatasking platformance!

 

[spaztic7]

Vista 64 , 4 gb RAM (will be at 8 as soon as new mobo comes in), 8800gtx, x-fi, 307 gb hd (2 160 in raid 0).

I also have not had any problems with Vista that I can blame on Microsoft. I have had Creative driver issues, and user issues, but not any issues caused by Microsoft.

 

[Kari]

Thanks to exit2dos for the results graph!

 

[MU_Engineer]

Its interesting to see how many folks are using >= 8GB of RAM.

I am a little surprised, but not a whole lot. Most people here have ATX motherboards with four DDR2 slots, which lets them use 8 GB of RAM. That 8 GB of RAM costs roughly $200, which is what a mere 2 GB of DDR did a year ago when prices shot up. So it's a relatively cheap upgrade. Now, more than 8 GB requires workstation gear with support for registered ECC memory (available in sizes up to 4 GB/module) or more than four slots. If I asked this same question in a different forum, such as an HTPC/SFF or laptop forum, I'd likely see nobody with more than 4 GB RAM as the two DIMM slots in a laptop and most uATX HTPCs and SFFs can only accommodate 4 GB of DDR2.

 

[Scotteq]

I'm just as surprised as anyone that 64 bit is as high as it is. I expected a respectible showing - 10~15% - but...

Anyways: At this point, I'm wondering if Turpit or someone has access to the statistics from the website itself. If that is even tracked.

 

[MU_Engineer]

Anyways: At this point, I'm wondering if Turpit or someone has access to the statistics from the website itself. If that is even tracked.

It is able to be tracked as it is part of the user agent string, at least on KDE Konqueror and on Gecko-based browsers like Firefox. For example, my user agent string does indeed say that the browser is a x86_64 binary:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071204 Ubuntu/7.10 (gutsy) Firefox/2.0.0.11

I am not sure what IE or Opera give as a user agent string. I also do not know if BestOfMedia (THG's owner) tracks the CPU architecture of users to its websites. Generally what is looked at is HTTP referrer, date and time of visit, time spent on a page, browser version, and sometimes screen resolution or OS type.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Convenience polling is a highly biased and unreliable way of getting info. These data are most likely not accurate.

Changing the title would help, however it still doesn't change the fact that this is a convenience poll. Only people who bothers to answer, answers.

 

[spaztic7]

I am not sure changing the title would do anything. He isnt saying only 64 bit useres vote here. It clearly stats that this thread is trying to find out who is trying to find out how many people use what. If I didnt have a 64bit OS, I would still come in here to throw in my vote for what I used.

But, I do have a 64bit OS (Vista) with 4 gb of RAM and I love it.

 

[LoneEagle]

I am not sure changing the title would do anything. He isnt saying only 64 bit useres vote here. It clearly stats that this thread is trying to find out who is trying to find out how many people use what. If I didnt have a 64bit OS, I would still come in here to throw in my vote for what I used.

But, I do have a 64bit OS (Vista) with 4 gb of RAM and I love it.

Me too!

Vista 64 and 4GB of RAM + SP1.
I only need to change my old graphic card, ATI All-In-Wonder X1900,
but still working fine for my current games!

 

[Amiga500]

6GB of RAM on a dual socket Opteron on Scientific linux (64)
4GB of RAM on a Q6600 on XP 32bit (if the 64bit windows version of the software worked right I would be using a 64bit OS).

 

[spaztic7]

6GB of RAM on a dual socket Opteron on Scientific linux (64)
4GB of RAM on a Q6600 on XP 32bit (if the 64bit windows version of the software worked right I would be using a 64bit OS).

If it is XP 64, I have had nothing but issues with that OS. Vista 64bit, never had one Microsoft fault issue.



Loneeale - Were did you get SP1 from? I am waiting for that to popup in the updater, but I have not seen it yet. If you want to upgrade with ATi, I highly recommend the 3870. I bought one for my girlfriend, and I am honestly jelous of that card over my 8800GTX. I think it is becuase it is newer then mine.

 

[LoneEagle]

Loneeale - Were did you get SP1 from? I am waiting for that to popup in the updater, but I have not seen it yet. If you want to upgrade with ATi, I highly recommend the 3870. I bought one for my girlfriend, and I am honestly jelous of that card over my 8800GTX. I think it is becuase it is newer then mine.

For the card, I will wait a little bit longer. Thanks for the info!

It a release candidate (not final approved) version but available to all for testing.
That version is no longer a beta but a possible release if approved.
The final won't be that one but close.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb738089.aspx

or go www.microsoft.com -> search "Vista SP1".

For update from "Windows Update", if not an option, may be need to change the settings to show beta?

 

[spaztic7]

For the card, I will wait a little bit longer. Thanks for the info!

It a release candidate (not final approved) version but available to all for testing.
That version is no longer a beta but a possible release if approved.
The final won't be that one but close.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb738089.aspx

or go www.microsoft.com -> search "Vista SP1".

For update from "Windows Update", if not an option, may be need to change the settings to show beta?

Thank you for the help! I am looking this up right now!

 

[Scotteq]

Spaztic: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9de6260e-4275-482d-9524-de850c4dd91c&DisplayLang=en

and on the small chance you'd maybe want/need a little guidance: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/113355-service-pack-1-sp1-release-candidate-1-rc1.html

 

[spaztic7]

Thank you Scotteq.

 

[killerb255]

Core 2 Quad Q6600 B3
8 GB RAM
Vista x64

IMO, barring any non-Windows OSes:

Less than 4 GB of RAM, stick with XP x86. Vista x86 is a waste of resources.

Greater than 4 GB of RAM, go with Vista x64. Driver support for Vista x64 is only going to get better. XP x64 is going to be rather short-lived... Also, you can't run Windows Media Center in XP x64.

Exactly 4 GB of RAM: do what you're most comfortable with: more support, less addressable RAM or more addressable RAM, less support.