to 64 bit or not to 64 bit? that is the question!

[thepinkpanther]

so yea i hate vista usually because its toooo slow compared to xp and i dont like the new interface...but im willing to change to it. I got a duel boot xp and vista, and every time i want to switch to vista i get pissed within minutes, games slower, applications slower, etc. I only got 2gb of ram. If i upgrade to 8gb of ram i would have to install 64bit version of vista, i dont like to do this, im lazy. Would u see a huge performance difference from vista 2gb to vista 8gb? I dont want to get 4gb because ram is already tooo cheap. Lastly what are ram timings? i got 5-5-5-18, how much performance increase would i see if i get 4-4-4-12?

 

[notherdude]

No simple way to answer your question. Too many variables I think. For what it's worth my Vista 64 with 6 gigs RAM is smooth and responsive to the point that I do not ever seem to wait for anything. I also have XP 32 with 2 gig on the same machine (memory remapping enabled cuts the avail. memory down to 2 gig for my 32 bit os) and it may be a little snappier in some things but Vista seems to beat it in others.

I also have a good secondary XP machine on my desktop for running the occasional app that still don't work on Vista.

Maybe wait a few days for the new benchmarks to come in for Vista sp1. Personally, with SP1 finally here, I think an investment in Vista 64 is the best overall solution at this point for the home user/gamer. If you read the hardware forums you will find the opinion of Vista is actually almost evenly divided, with still an edge going to XP. But Vista is by NO MEANS universally hated by enthusiasts, no indeed, it's has it's following too. Business is a harder call and depends on many factors. On the the hand there is no compelling reason to go to Vista if you don't like it. DX-10 has yet to make a big splash. It probably will over time.

4,4,4 ... or 5,5,5, I'm pretty sure on Intel systems it makes little difference at this point.

 

[timaahhh]

8 Gigs of ram is useless to Vista unless you are doing a lot of Video editing with huge files. Really anything above 2 gig's is not that helpful for gaming. FPS increase is so small u won't notice it. So my suggestion is if performance is that important to don't keep investing into Vista.

 

[tjhva]

8 Gigs of ram is useless to Vista unless you are doing a lot of Video editing with huge files.

I thought I was a newbie


Read up h0mie. Running 8gigs in Vista 64 will allow you to turn off virtual memory, among other benefits.

 

[notherdude]

U know that vista in my native language means a chicken. So there is no diffrence if this chicken is 32x or 64x... even if ur stuck a chicken into ur PC ir DVD-rom or i dont know. Green peace hates you!

Well, that proves it.

There are some valid complaints against Vista but let's at least try to remain clear and objective and avoid open baiting and trolling. If this is the best the anti-Vista contingent can come up with . . . .

 

[leo2kp]

8 Gigs of ram is useless to Vista unless you are doing a lot of Video editing with huge files. Really anything above 2 gig's is not that helpful for gaming. FPS increase is so small u won't notice it. So my suggestion is if performance is that important to don't keep investing into Vista.

Anything about 2 gigs is not helpful? LOL, k. 4gb at least for Vista if you're gaming 2gb in XP is just fine though.

 

[Scotteq]

I thought I was a newbie


Read up h0mie. Running 8gigs in Vista 64 will allow you to turn off virtual memory, among other benefits.

I wouldn't recommend turning it off entirely... There are apps that look for it, so having it shut off can cause errors.
Turn it down to 512MB, instead.

 

[Maziar]

I had XP 64 and i couldnt do 2 things with it :
Playing a game (PES 2008) and also it didnt recognize my printer and also it had a problem with some apps when i wanted to launch them so i installed XP 32 bit and i actually didnt see any single performance loss in any app

 

[notherdude]

I am NOT a anti-Vista guy, a like chicken, especially brest, a monk from tibeth told me so.. vista is good only for eating not for placing it into ur rig. Doesnt make sense u can't put animals into ur pc.

Easy lil fella, hey, do your parents know you are vandalizing the internet again?

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

Hey Pinkpanther.

I dual boot between XP MCE 32-bit and Vista 64-bit. I originally got Vista for Crysis and its DX10 features. I don't have SP1 yet but I'll honestly say that I have not had any issues (except for minor issues with HG:L) with Vista.

If you convert to Vista, I'd say for money added value that 4 gigs of RAM will be plenty for you if you're a gamer and 2 gigs would be sufficient if you only use IE or word processing programs.

Make sure you have the following before considering 64-bit OS.
-A 64-bit CPU architechture.
-Using more than 2gigs?
-Hardware and computer add-ons that have Vista 64-bit drivers (recommended).

Pros with Vista 64-bit:
-My Vista 64-bit boots faster than my XP 32-bit!
-Renders faster? How much faster? It all comes down to each program and how they were written. Currently, you wouldn't see much of a difference. Tops 5% improvement in recent games such as Crysis.
-Future proof when it comes to OS.
-If you have a high-end PC, some DX10 features are stunning (i.e. Crysis).
-The higher the resolution, the more 64-bit coding makes a difference (i.e. Videocard drivers in 64-bit rendering 3D application in very high resolution such as 1080p or higher).

Cons with Vista 64-bit:
-If you have old hardware, you may not have Vista 64-bit drivers. However, 64-bit OS have an emulator for 32-bit programs, drivers, etc. So not all is lost.
-You need a high-end PC to play games in Vista 32-bit or 64-bit and even better PCs to benefit from DX10 features.

Conclusion:

If you upgrade to Vista, it would be stupid upgrading to 32-bit Vista. Go 64-bit as you'll eventually need more than 2 gigs in the near future (or now if you're a gamer).

Hope this helps.

Alex

 

[spaztic7]

so yea i hate vista usually because its toooo slow compared to xp and i dont like the new interface...but im willing to change to it. I got a duel boot xp and vista, and every time i want to switch to vista i get pissed within minutes, games slower, applications slower, etc. I only got 2gb of ram. If i upgrade to 8gb of ram i would have to install 64bit version of vista, i dont like to do this, im lazy. Would u see a huge performance difference from vista 2gb to vista 8gb? I dont want to get 4gb because ram is already tooo cheap. Lastly what are ram timings? i got 5-5-5-18, how much performance increase would i see if i get 4-4-4-12?

The general sweet spot for Vista is 4GB of RAM. Now in 32bit mode, you will see about 3.5GB or so. In 64, this also depends on which version you buy. I believe home premium supports up to 8GB while Ultimate supports up to 127GB or so... because we will all be at 127GB soon..... So yes, there will be a noticeable performance increase.

If you treat Vista like XP, you will hate Vista. If you get over the fact that it is a new OS and treat it like a new OS and relearn, then you will do fine. Also, what processor do you have?

They lower the RAM timings, the better. This allows for quicker reads and writes. We are talking about a difference of a clock cycle. You will not really notice a difference in that.

 

[spaztic7]

I am NOT a anti-Vista guy, a like chicken, especially brest, a monk from tibeth told me so.. vista is good only for eating not for placing it into ur rig. Doesnt make sense u can't put animals into ur pc.

Um... what!!!??? I know I do my fair share of post that make no sense... but DAMN!!! You have me beet by a long shot!

 

[sailer]

Getting back to the OP, if you get Vista, get the 64 bit version. The 32 bit makes little to no sense. You have the ability to use more ram, the ability to expand, and a faster running computer. Its like when I changed from 32 bit XP to 64 bit XP, everything got faster. And yes, in the early days there were some driver problems with some games, etc while using XP64, but those all disappeared during the last year and a half. Also, with Vista you should get at least the Premium version. The lower versions are the pits.

I don't know that having 8 gig or ram is worthwhile, at least at the moment, unless you use some pretty intense business apps. I suspect that by the time any games start using more than 4 gig, we will be using DDR3 anyway, so 8 gig of DDR2 will seem like a dinosuar.

So much for my opinion. Take it and a couple dollars and you can buy a cup of coffee.

 

[killerb255]

If you're using XP, stick with 32-bit.
If you're using Vista, you might as well go 64-bit, since driver and vendor support for 64-bit Vista is only growing...

As for 8 GB...well...if you are running virtual machines, games, and encoding videos at the same time while having Ultimate's bells and whistles turned on (Dreamscene, for example), then 8 GB is worth it. One of my DIMMs were bad, so I'm down to 6 GB now. For me, that's the difference between doing all of the above while recording TV with Media Center and not. That's obviously not the end of the world, and for the average user, completely irrelevant.

If you're going to use Vista x64, 4-6 GB would be a good range. Vista RAM hogging no longer slows you down at that point.

Vista x86 is kind of a waste unless it's a vLited installation or you turn off all but the bare minimum of services. Out of the box, I wouldn't run it with less that 2 GB of RAM. Some people can get away with running it with 1 GB of RAM, but again, that's turning off all the stuff that makes it Vista (for better or worse). If you're going to do that, you might as well just stick with XP.

 

[notherdude]

notherdude u have an old hand. Having an old hand doesnt make sence. Cuz its old. get a new one.. seems like ur hand doesnt understand what it is writing. So placve it in ur rig instead of vista human orgnoids will amke more sense than the animals and birds.

My hats off to you tehhardpro - this may well be the lamest flame in the entire history of the internet.

 

[spaztic7]

My hats off to you tehhardpro - this may well be the lamest flame in the entire history of the internet.

I still do not understand what he said.


Something about a bird, food, not in machine.... A monk. I tried to run it through spell check, but it locked the program up.

 

[Scotteq]

Meh - Nothing that 240 grains can't solve....

 

[timaahhh]

I thought I was a newbie


Read up h0mie. Running 8gigs in Vista 64 will allow you to turn off virtual memory, among other benefits.

Anything about 2 gigs is not helpful? LOL, k. 4gb at least for Vista if you're gaming 2gb in XP is just fine though.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6167115/index.html

 

[badgtx1969]

I am NOT a anti-Vista guy, a like chicken, especially brest, a monk from tibeth told me so.. vista is good only for eating not for placing it into ur rig. Doesnt make sense u can't put animals into ur pc.

Maybe it will be easier to understand in pig Latin:

Iway amway OTNAY away antiway-Istavay uygay, away ikelay ickenchay, especiallyway estbray, away onkmay omfray ibethtay oldtay emay osay.. istavay isway oodgay onlyway orfay eatingway otnay orfay acingplay itway intoway urway igray. Oesntday akemay ensesay uway an'tcay utpay animalsway intoway urway pcay.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

Maybe it will be easier to understand in pig Latin:

Iway amway OTNAY away antiway-Istavay uygay, away ikelay ickenchay, especiallyway estbray, away onkmay omfray ibethtay oldtay emay osay.. istavay isway oodgay onlyway orfay eatingway otnay orfay acingplay itway intoway urway igray. Oesntday akemay ensesay uway an'tcay utpay animalsway intoway urway pcay.

Hahaha, thanks for the clarification!

 

[thepinkpanther]

thanx all, i gotta a pretty new system. e6750 + ati 3870. I gota trial version of vista so i can use it for 120 days before i decide to buy/crack it. So i guess ill get 4 gb for and check the speed.

 

[nhobo]

If you have a specific application that requires a 64 bit OS, then get one. If not, then don't buy the BS hype, Bill Gates has enough money.

 

[spaztic7]

If you have a specific application that requires a 64 bit OS, then get one. If not, then don't buy the BS hype, Bill Gates has enough money.

um.... what?

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

If you have a specific application that requires a 64 bit OS, then get one. If not, then don't buy the BS hype, Bill Gates has enough money.

For the same price, get 64-bit. I don't get the hype thing...