Vista 32bit vs 64bit

[mnikkel55]

I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

 

[TheStu]

well 64bit nets you an higher RAM ceiling. I have heard that 64bit drivers are still lacking, but if someone with 64bit Vista could chime in, then you could probably get better information.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: mnikkel55
I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

32bit is more mainstream, so the drivers are a bit more mature. It was a problem on launch for both 32 and 64...its pretty good in 32bit land right now, but I havent tried 64bit myself, although I've heard it ain't too shabby.

Don't bother with 64-bit unless you have, or plan to have 4gb+ ram soon...thats really the key distinguishing feature between the two.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: mnikkel55
I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

32bit is more mainstream, so the drivers are a bit more mature. It was a problem on launch for both 32 and 64...its pretty good in 32bit land right now, but I havent tried 64bit myself, although I've heard it ain't too shabby.

Don't bother with 64-bit unless you have, or plan to have 4gb+ ram soon...thats really the key distinguishing feature between the two.

Hmm, i'm kinda suprised to see you recommending 32-bit.

One can argue it all they want, but the simple fact is, 32-bit is a very short term dying future path, simply due to RAM alone.

Drivers aren't really much worse w/ 64-bit than 32-bit, though nVidia is possibly the worst company in existence for drivers for anything, so be warned...

Overall though, the reason not to go 64-bit is if a certain application or driver for a specific device you have doesn't work, which is relatively rare.

In short, do a search...
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...&keyword1=vista+AND+64
I link to a bunch of other threads there...

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: mnikkel55
I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

32bit is more mainstream, so the drivers are a bit more mature. It was a problem on launch for both 32 and 64...its pretty good in 32bit land right now, but I havent tried 64bit myself, although I've heard it ain't too shabby.

Don't bother with 64-bit unless you have, or plan to have 4gb+ ram soon...thats really the key distinguishing feature between the two.

Hmm, i'm kinda suprised to see you recommending 32-bit.

One can argue it all they want, but the simple fact is, 32-bit is a very short term dying future path, simply due to RAM alone.

Drivers aren't really much worse w/ 64-bit than 32-bit, though nVidia is possibly the worst company in existence for drivers for anything, so be warned...

Overall though, the reason not to go 64-bit is if a certain application or driver for a specific device you have doesn't work, which is relatively rare.

In short, do a search...
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...&keyword1=vista+AND+64
I link to a bunch of other threads there...

Well, I'm making a few assumptions:

That he'll have the retail version with both 32bit and 64bit, and he has no problem with reinstalling later.
He has less than 4gb of ram.
The state of drivers is a crucial factor for a gaming system, and although 64bit might not be too bad, I've never heard of 64bit drivers that were in a better state than the corresponding 32bit drivers.

If any of the above arent the case, well then, 64bit all the way. I'll probably make the change in a few months when theres finally a game that can put 4gb of ram to good use. 64bit is the future. It's here and now and all, but you don't really NEED it yet.

 

[bigrash]

I'm using 64bit now and don't have any major problem with it. Everything runs fine, but I haven't played any games yet though (too busy playing on my 360). The only driver/software problem that I have is that the tv viewing software for Pinnacle doesn't work, but I prefer Media Center so it's ok with me.

everything else runs smooth on 64bit

 

[mnikkel55]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: mnikkel55
I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

32bit is more mainstream, so the drivers are a bit more mature. It was a problem on launch for both 32 and 64...its pretty good in 32bit land right now, but I havent tried 64bit myself, although I've heard it ain't too shabby.

Don't bother with 64-bit unless you have, or plan to have 4gb+ ram soon...thats really the key distinguishing feature between the two.

Hmm, i'm kinda suprised to see you recommending 32-bit.

One can argue it all they want, but the simple fact is, 32-bit is a very short term dying future path, simply due to RAM alone.

Drivers aren't really much worse w/ 64-bit than 32-bit, though nVidia is possibly the worst company in existence for drivers for anything, so be warned...

Overall though, the reason not to go 64-bit is if a certain application or driver for a specific device you have doesn't work, which is relatively rare.

In short, do a search...
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...&keyword1=vista+AND+64
I link to a bunch of other threads there...

Well, I'm making a few assumptions:

That he'll have the retail version with both 32bit and 64bit, and he has no problem with reinstalling later.
He has less than 4gb of ram.
The state of drivers is a crucial factor for a gaming system, and although 64bit might not be too bad, I've never heard of 64bit drivers that were in a better state than the corresponding 32bit drivers.

If any of the above arent the case, well then, 64bit all the way. I'll probably make the change in a few months when theres finally a game that can put 4gb of ram to good use. 64bit is the future. It's here and now and all, but you don't really NEED it yet.

While I only have 2gb of ram at the moment 4gb is definitely a possibility within the next year or so. I was also planning on getting the OEM version to save a bit of money.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: mnikkel55

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: mnikkel55
I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

32bit is more mainstream, so the drivers are a bit more mature. It was a problem on launch for both 32 and 64...its pretty good in 32bit land right now, but I havent tried 64bit myself, although I've heard it ain't too shabby.

Don't bother with 64-bit unless you have, or plan to have 4gb+ ram soon...thats really the key distinguishing feature between the two.

Hmm, i'm kinda suprised to see you recommending 32-bit.

One can argue it all they want, but the simple fact is, 32-bit is a very short term dying future path, simply due to RAM alone.

Drivers aren't really much worse w/ 64-bit than 32-bit, though nVidia is possibly the worst company in existence for drivers for anything, so be warned...

Overall though, the reason not to go 64-bit is if a certain application or driver for a specific device you have doesn't work, which is relatively rare.

In short, do a search...
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...&keyword1=vista+AND+64
I link to a bunch of other threads there...

Well, I'm making a few assumptions:

That he'll have the retail version with both 32bit and 64bit, and he has no problem with reinstalling later.
He has less than 4gb of ram.
The state of drivers is a crucial factor for a gaming system, and although 64bit might not be too bad, I've never heard of 64bit drivers that were in a better state than the corresponding 32bit drivers.

If any of the above arent the case, well then, 64bit all the way. I'll probably make the change in a few months when theres finally a game that can put 4gb of ram to good use. 64bit is the future. It's here and now and all, but you don't really NEED it yet.

While I only have 2gb of ram at the moment 4gb is definitely a possibility within the next year or so. I was also planning on getting the OEM version to save a bit of money.

Well, then go with 64bit I suppose, and just deal with any bugs if they come up. I'm not sure how much you save by going with OEM, but I am pretty sure they're tied to your motherboard, and you might end up losing money in the long run by having to repurchase if you ever upgrade too much.

 

[n7]

There really aren't many issues with 64-bit.

I personally held off installing my 64-bit version of Vista for so long, but now that i've used it for a couple months, i honestly don't know why i was waiting.

I'm not even much of a gamer, but here are the games i presently have installed (haven't encounted any that don't run in Vista 64 yet): http://www.imageannex.com/image/7385.jpeg

 

[bsobel]

Same advice as I always give <2gig of ram an no plans to add more ever, V32. 2gig or more *and* plans to go to 3gig or more at some point V64.

I'm literally in the middle of installing V64 over a V32 build since the system came with V32 and 2gig and I just put 4gig into it. A lot of time could have been saved if all these 2gig machines just came with V64 in the first place...

 

[drum]

Originally posted by: n7
There really aren't many issues with 64-bit.

I personally held off installing my 64-bit version of Vista for so long, but now that i've used it for a couple months, i honestly don't know why i was waiting.

I'm not even much of a gamer, but here are the games i presently have installed (haven't encounted any that don't run in Vista 64 yet): http://www.imageannex.com/image/7385.jpeg

I have been using 64 bit ultimate since mid march and have been very happy with it. Gaming has been smooth and problem free.

 

[mnikkel55]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Well, then go with 64bit I suppose, and just deal with any bugs if they come up. I'm not sure how much you save by going with OEM, but I am pretty sure they're tied to your motherboard, and you might end up losing money in the long run by having to repurchase if you ever upgrade too much.

The full retail version of home premium is $240. The OEM version is $115. Even if I swap out my MoBo and have to buy a second copy, I come out $10 ahead by going with the OEM version.

 

[bsobel]

I'm not sure how much you save by going with OEM, but I am pretty sure they're tied to your motherboard, and you might end up losing money in the long run by having to repurchase if you ever upgrade too much.

Generally OEM is >50% the cost of retail, so unless you're going to go thru 3 motherboards its really not the bad deal everyone claims it is..

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: mnikkel55
I'm building a DX10 gaming system with an E6700. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 64bit version of Vista? I seem to recall hearing something about the 32bit version being better for gaming, but I can't remember where I heard it or why.

32bit is more mainstream, so the drivers are a bit more mature. It was a problem on launch for both 32 and 64...its pretty good in 32bit land right now, but I havent tried 64bit myself, although I've heard it ain't too shabby.

Don't bother with 64-bit unless you have, or plan to have 4gb+ ram soon...thats really the key distinguishing feature between the two.

I've not had any problems in gaming with Vista x64,so IMHO just as good as 32 bit version ,unless you really want to play those old 16 bit games.

Driver wise I'm very impressed with 64 bit drivers to tell you the truth.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: mnikkel55

Originally posted by: BD2003
Well, then go with 64bit I suppose, and just deal with any bugs if they come up. I'm not sure how much you save by going with OEM, but I am pretty sure they're tied to your motherboard, and you might end up losing money in the long run by having to repurchase if you ever upgrade too much.

The full retail version of home premium is $240. The OEM version is $115. Even if I swap out my MoBo and have to buy a second copy, I come out $10 ahead by going with the OEM version.

Ah, well then OEM all the way.

I'm glad 64-bit is working well already for everyone else...I'm looking forward to a good 4-6gb of ram in my future.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Not that this pairs against the Released Vista, but me and a guy I work with were both beta-testing Vista RC1/RC2 in 32 and 64 bit flavors last year. 32 seemd to be a bit laggy although that doesn't seem to be the case with OEM Vista 32 on my wife's gateway we just bought. However, Vista RC2-64 flat out screamed in comparison to Vista RC2-32.

 

[Ryland]

I have come across various pieces of software that do not work in Vista64 which supposedly works fine under Vista32 but I am hoping that the developers will get their acts together and release 64bit versions (in particular they are Sonicwall's VPN client and Palm Tungsten USB drivers).

Edit: BeyondTV Seems to work under Vista64