"Safe" to go with 64bit Vista, or should I dual boot a 32?

[Volume]

Subject pretty much sums up the question I guess. I have a hard drive coming in soon and own both 32- and 64-bit copies of Vista, and was wondering if these days it's safe enough and problem free to just go with a 64-bit OS -- or if I should split to two partitions and dual boot a 32-bit just in case...

Any trouble installing games, etc.?

[I(illa Bee]

Depends on what you do?

At home im using x64 win7, and on my desktop at work the same. On my laptop I need VPN, and most commercial use VPN clients don't work well on x64 at all.. so 32 bit it is

Look at what you use... if you have a need to go above 4gb of ram and everything you use run on x64 go for it.

[Haste266]

im a gamer and have been using vista x64 for around 4 months now...havent needed 32bit yet!

[silent-circuit]

You'll be fine. 32bit isn't necessary for 99%+ of power users anymore.

[criccio]

Vista 64. Don't look back.


btw, there is a thread with this exact topic created every week...

[idividebyzero]

Its been fine to use since it came out. Theres no reason to use 32bit.

[xdivenx]

The only thing that is really an issue nowadays is probably Security Software and Utility support. Just make sure that your AV has or works in 64bit and you will be fine =D.

[Gott]

Vista 64-bit here, Windows XP 32-bit in a VM to VPN into work.

[DeathFromBelow]

64-bit Vista. I've been using it since the Vista consumer launch and love it. All my games run fine.

All you "lose" is 16-bit application support, but you can run them in a VM or with an emulator like DOSBox. Hardware support is virtually identical to 32-bit.

[Jon55]

Vista 64 all the way. Forget 32-bit OS's.

[bigdogchris]

Yeah unless you have a specific app you need to run that won't run on it, go x64. It's the future and I'm pretty sure 7 will be the last 32 bit Windows. PC's are already shipping with 3-4 GB of ram and I can see that being very common and almost lower end in 3-4 years when talks of Windows 8 begin. I see no reason why 8 would be 32 bit.

Plus, like it was already said, companies program their stuff to run on x64 now, at least in 32 bit compatibility mode, and if you want the Windows Logo (which they do), you must make x64 drivers. I actually don't think that there is new hardware made that doesn't support x64.

[alexyang]

I made the switch from 32-bit XP Pro SP2 to 64-bit Vista Business a few weeks ago. I don't feel any performance penalty from running 32-bit applications via WOW64. All in all, I've been very impressed, and I'm no longer a Vista hater.

[Haste266]

All in all, I've been very impressed, and I'm no longer a Vista hater.

yaaaaaaay. :D

[Elledan]

There are still some 32-bit apps which do not run (well) on x64 Windows, but in general it's a pretty usable OS. Just make sure all your hardware is supported and check that all your favourite apps and tools/games run on the OS :)

[DeaconFrost]

was wondering if these days it's safe enough and problem free to just go with a 64-bit OS
A very quick search on these forums would show it is safe...and has been for quite some time now. Vista's been out for over two years now, and Vista x64 has been stable for most of that time as well.

[Jon55]

There are still some 32-bit apps which do not run (well) on x64 Windows...

...that are developed by terrible programers. Which makes you wonder if the app is worth running in the first place.

[JimmiG]

There's no excuse for not supporting 64-bit Vista these days, but sometimes you might rely on a piece of sh*... hardware or software that only works on a 32-bit OS. For example M-Audio only recently (december) released 64-bit drivers for some of their audio cards, and only in beta form. Also my mobo has a design flaw that causes the entire harddrive to get corrupted if the system enters S3 sleep under 64-bit Vista.

So make sure everything is compatible before making the switch. 99% of the timee everything is fully compatible and then 64-bit Vista will behave and work just like 32-bit Vista plus the ability to use more than ~3GB of RAM etc.

[JohnnyNapalm]

I've used x64 Vista for more than 2 years now...it's fine.