any downsides to Vista 64 bit?

[CJP]

I mainly will use my new system for internet, email and some light gaming. It will have 6gb ram, an ATI Radeo 4870 1gb video card, an x-fi Titanium PCI Express sound card, Asus P6T motherboard, and a core i7 920 cpu. I'm a bit out of the loop on where things stand today (it used to be that people had some compatibility and driver issues with Vista 64) regarding Vista 64. So will I have any problems going with Vista 64 so that I can address the full 6 gigs?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: CJP
I mainly will use my new system for internet, email and some light gaming. It will have 6gb ram, an ATI Radeo 4870 1gb video card, an x-fi Titanium PCI Express sound card, Asus P6T motherboard, and a core i7 920 cpu. I'm a bit out of the loop on where things stand today (it used to be that people had some compatibility and driver issues with Vista 64) regarding Vista 64. So will I have any problems going with Vista 64 so that I can address the full 6 gigs?

Just make sure you have 64 bit drivers for your hardware,also remember you can't run any 16 bit software in Vista x64 unless you use something like Virtual PC or dual boot with another OS like XP/Vista x86.

Most 32 bit software runs quite fine in Vista x64,if you have any specific software that you are worried about then name the product and we'll probably be able to tell you if its compatible with Vista x64.

 

[CJP]

The hardware I'm concerned about is my Epson 1640SU Scanner and it's drivers. The software is Microsoft Picture It Publishing.

 

[Mem]

Can't find drivers for Vista x64 however it may have native support,I have a few USB devices that work fine without any available drivers,ie you can try this as well

Windows Update = Drivers are available using the automatic software update service built into Windows Vista. Just connect your Epson product to your computer and select Locate and install driver software (recommended) in the window that appears. Your Epson product drivers install automatically. (You may need to select this option more than once during installation).

As to your software looks like the answer is no according to this link.

 

[CJP]

Ok thanks Mem.

Also, as long as all my hardware has the proper 64 bit drivers (vid card, sound. etc.) most current games will play fine on Vista x64 won't they?

 

[Saga]

I'm pretty sure the only thing I was ever able to successfully get to work with Vista was a Sandisk Sansa that just refused to connect (using both USB connection protocols it allowed you to toggle between). Though I honestly suspect that was more due to the MP3 player being possibly faulty than anything.

Hacking X-Fi drivers was easy if you knew where to browse online, and it installs any 32-bit apps directly into the 32-bit folder so you don't really see any cross architecture issues.

Were the printers you couldn't use USB or Parallel?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: CJP
Ok thanks Mem.

Also, as long as all my hardware has the proper 64 bit drivers (vid card, sound. etc.) most current games will play fine on Vista x64 won't they?

Yep,I have a 4870 card too, runs games fine with my Vista x64 , Creative have drivers for X-FI and Audigy cards(I'm using an Audigy 4 btw) anyway no real issues to report.

Just remember some old games you may need to run as Admin and in XP compatibility mode,remember to update your DX9.0C to latest version Nov 2008,you can get that from here (Vista as well as XP,you'll still have DX10).

Start64 ,good site for 64 bit software.

 

[gba]

Thanks Mem for the link to Start64 and the other tips... I am just starting to really dig in with my Vista x64 machine and you have given me encouragement.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: CJP
It will have 6gb ram, an ATI Radeo 4870 1gb video card, an x-fi Titanium PCI Express sound card, Asus P6T motherboard, and a core i7 920 cpu.

This is a no brainer. Eventually 24 gigs of DDR3 will be cheap like DDR2. Although 6 is plenty... you never know! For the price of DDR3 I would want to use every byte.

The only issue I have with Vista 64 is there is no adobe flash player for 64 bit IE. Of course you won't notice a difference in performance running 32 bit IE, but it is annoying. But I typically use firefox anyway. Other than that I have had no issues. My printer is 3 years old and have excellent driver support. With your new hardware you will be fine.

 

[fritzfield]

I've read that Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a NOGO on Vista 64. I was going to buy Dragon NS, but if my great and stable 64bit Vista will not work with it then, SH*T I'll have to wait a while for Dragon to get its SH*T together.