windows 7 x86 vs windows 7x64

[genewhy]

Up until about 5 months ago I had windows 7x86 on my laptop. A friend convinced me that my laptop would run smoother on 64 bit, and that photoshop would work faster. The problem is that since I switched to 64 my graphics card score dropped from 5.4 to 4.1 (that's 1.3 points). Another issue would be that since I switched to the 64 my hard disk drive occasionally freezes and I have to restart my system when that happens.
Do you think these problems are related to the x64 installation?

Thanks!

 

[COLGeek]

Sounds like you need to update your video drivers and possibly your motherboard chipset drivers. What make/model of laptop are you using?

 

[genewhy]

I have an Asus K52JC-EX452D.

 

[COLGeek]

Go here and download and install the latest drivers for your system:

http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/Versatile_Performance/K52JC/#download

 

[pjmelect]

since I switched to the 64 my hard disk drive occasionally freezes and I have to restart my system when that happens.

I doubt that the freezing is caused by using 64 bit Windows, I would suspect memory problems are causing this and that the errors are probably more apparent on 64 bit Windows as more of the memory is being used. Try downloading and running memtest86 4.0a

There is no point in using 64 bit Windows unless you have 4 or more gigs of memory. 64 bit Windows is slightly faster than 32 bit Windows but uses (needs) more memory which if you have less than 4 Gigs of memory cancels out the speed advantage. 32 bit Windows is more compatible with old programs but can't use more than just over 3 gig of memory.

 

[genewhy]

@COLGeek. I have all the lastest drivers installed on my system from the Asus website.

@pjmelect You might be right, my system only has 3 Gigs of memory. I don't have a cd around right now, but as soon as I get one I'll run the test and update the thread.


And another thing, when my laptop freezes it makes this high pitch sound, it's not too loud, but you can definitely hear it.

 

[COLGeek]

And another thing, when my laptop freezes it makes this high pitch sound, it's not too loud, but you can definitely hear it.

This happens, typically, when you have a heat and/or power issue. You can get a can of compressed air and with the power off, blow out the intake and exhaust ports to remove any dust build-up. Are you monitoring your temps? If so, what are your idele and loaded temps? If not monitoring, get hwmonitor and install it. You can get it at:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

 

[Zoron]

Don't rely on Asus... get your drivers from the chip (Intel, AMD, nVidia, etc.) vendor. Asus drivers may be out of date. (Unless it's an Asus branded device).

 

[genewhy]

@COLGeeg I've installed hwmonitor but it doesn't seem to be any heat problem. I've attached a print screen with the test results.
@Zoron, I tried this too. I installed the latest drivers from the chip vendor.

The problem is still here. Thank you all for your advice!

 

[COLGeek]

Run hwmonitor in the background and launch a game. That will put a load on the system and will heat things up. The intent is to see how hot it gets before a problem occurs.