32 bit and 64 bit vista for gaming.

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ellover009

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
1,908
Hey guys, well I was part of Vista Rc1 beta with one of my friends key, he was given a license for up to 8 pc's to install it on at that time, time went by and vista was released eventually the beta keys were shut down, I been using a modified copy of xp and decided it was time to get a good copy of windows.
Move ahead and I ordered XP pro sp2 OEM and Vista 32bit OEM.
My PC is a E6600 core2duo, 8800gtx, x-fi plat, 2gb ram.

I got vista mostly because some things that worked on the beta did not want to work on xp copy I have, it's a program my mom uses I tried everything to get around that problem so I got to the point where getting Vista should solve the problem since that program did work in the beta copy.

I do a lot of gaming and I was wondering if I made a good choice going 32bit over 64bit OEM, I mostly went with 32bit because I know it will work whereas 64bit is uncharted territory for me. I am wondering about the gaming since I am not sure if more games will start taking advantage of 64bit processing over 32bit. This leaves me to several thing, if the good copy of XP fixes problem I can keep 32bit vista, change it for 64bit or return it, so what do you guys think?
 
I'm in the same boat. I just ordered all of my new parts for my new PC and I already had 32-bit Vista. I ordered 4 gigs of ram and I read today that 32-bit Vista doesn't support all 4 gigs (only 3.25GB or something like that).

What do you guys think I should do as I am a big gamer, keep my 32-bit OS and install the 4 gigs anyways, purchase the 64-bit version, or send 2GB of the 4GB back?
 
32bit for now is where its at IMO. No reason to move to 64bit though I've looked into it because of the ram issues. It's just that the ram benefit does not out-weigh the benefits lost due to compatability issues. Give it time though--we'll be there. It's just not now.
 
So if I plug in 4GB of Ram, will 32-bit Vista actually make use of all 4GBs or only 3.5GBs? If I put 4 Gbs of ram in there I want my computer to be able to use it all in games. Will that happen in 32-bit Vista?
 
No, you'll see similar to what I saw using WinXP Pro 32bit with 4x1GB sticks, 3.25GB(using a 768MB GTX).

I went straight to Vista 64bit from WinXP and love it so far for gaming. YMMV
 
My theory is that the gamer manufacturers arent designing games based off a 64bit OS so u don't have to worry right now if ur rig isn't seeing all your ram.

The facts are that yes, 32bit wont let you see 4gigs. You may see 3200mb max with a GTX card. Your BIOS SHOULD see 4 gigs if you have one specific setting turned on but it wont make your OS see more.

Best bet for now, if you got 4 gigs, cool. I wouldn't invest in nothing else right now. Not even 64bit OS'. If and when we need to, we'll probably need DDR4 ram or some shit like that. Everything I said is meant to the gamer.

Those CAD, graphic junkies that can get their proggys to work in the 64bit OS are the ones who really enjoy the benefit of 4g's or more of ram. Gaming should shoot similar results if you can get them to run. Still, as the other poster mentioned, he can play games in 64bit vista well. That's cool. So can we on 32bit. The same game he plays on the 64bit OS wont benefit from more than 3 or 4 gigs of ram because the game was not designed to use it.

If this doesn't makes sense, I'm sorry. It's late.
 
OK guys what kinda anti spy ware and any virus is good for xp and another set for Vista? The little lady of the house is starting to use the web (little lady is my mom) and I noticed my computer is getting quite a bit of crapware. want something that can stop bad websites on their tracks, its gotten so bad when I boot it locks when it loads explorer so I have to ctrl alt delete and shut down explorer.exe then on a command run explorer.exe and the whole thing releases.
Maybe I should have invested on a laptop for her.
 
I like Avast antivirus (and it's free for home use!)

The best thing you can do to keep your system crap free though is to not let her use IE to browse. Get her using Opera or FireFox, waaay fewer security issues.
 
I used vista x64 for a while and i had no issues with any of my games, they ran almost as well as XP. But I couldnt get the refresh rate overrides for my CRT to stick so i got the 4 month trial of XP x64 from MS, it is the best and fastest OS i have even used.
 
ellover009 said:
OK guys what kinda anti spy ware and any virus is good for xp and another set for Vista? The little lady of the house is starting to use the web (little lady is my mom) and I noticed my computer is getting quite a bit of crapware. want something that can stop bad websites on their tracks, its gotten so bad when I boot it locks when it loads explorer so I have to ctrl alt delete and shut down explorer.exe then on a command run explorer.exe and the whole thing releases.
Maybe I should have invested on a laptop for her.
Click to expand...

you should start a new thread instead of hijacking your own thread taking the thread way off original topic :p..and search the forums as this question has been asked quite a few times ..



[F]old|[H]ard
 
I don't let her use IE, we use Firefox, I don't know how she picked up these things and how they get into the machine, spy bot is becoming inadequate. I don't know so much about thread jacking my own thread since it is my thread, I rather ask the ppl here for a simple oppinion on top of the topic, rather have a new thread take up more space on the server.
I talked to my friend he has 64bit of xp and he says it feels smoother than the 32bit ver, only issues is there is no drivers for his add on sound card so he had to use the onboard one, some of his outdated video editing stuff does not work on 64. He's telling me that hes noticing graphic a little better on the 64bit, so I don't know how true this is.

xp and vista 32 OEM came today, thought about what if 64. Possibly gonna install things tomorrow or the weekend once I get things settled down.
 
How do you install Vista 64bit?
My friend has windows XP and installed vista 32bit on top and it works
but when he try's to install Vista 64 it comes with setup can not run
on this version of the operating system. to install windows please try booting from the install media:confused:
 
I use Vista 64bit on my main desktop. It feels more stable and faster to me than the 32bit version does. All apps and games work so far. They don't have to be 64bit versions. If you have 32 bit drivers for something you also have 64bit.

It just makes more sense to use it as everything is moving towards 64bit and I have yet to encounter any problems related to using a 64bit OS over a 32bit.
The more people who do use 64bit the faster adoption will continue.
 
I wonder if games will take advantage of 64 in the future. I want to know because if I end up in the future going 64 then I would have to return the 32 OEM and buy retail copy. It goes for about $340. I have accomplished nothing so far.
 
ellover009 said:
I wonder if games will take advantage of 64 in the future. I want to know because if I end up in the future going 64 then I would have to return the 32 OEM and buy retail copy. It goes for about $340. I have accomplished nothing so far.
Click to expand...

Half Life 2
UT2004
FarCry

All have 64bit patches now. There may be more. And yes, games will most certainly go 64bit. They will have to just to be able to address larger amounts of memory.
You can keep your 32bit copy. The same cd key works in 64bit versions. Microsoft will send you a 64bit copy if you own the 32bit copy for $10. Or you can just download it. Again, the same cd key works.
 
Quite true, I am about to upgrade to Vista Ultimate 64-bit w/4gigs. While most games are not coded specifically to address 4 gigs or even 2 gigs for that matter, if you have OS to address 4 gigs of memory it will benefit. I have read to many post of BF2 users using Vista 64 and they tell me load times are virtually gone when coupled with a quality hard drive. I can even tell a significant difference with my 4 gigs on XP Pro 32-bit while its seeing only 2.75 gigs. I was able to get 4 gigs of OCZ PC1066 for around 2000 bucks and thought that was a pretty sweet deal, so I'm ready for an OS that can utilize it. Good Luck.

Pkirk618 said:
My theory is that the gamer manufacturers arent designing games based off a 64bit OS so u don't have to worry right now if ur rig isn't seeing all your ram.

The facts are that yes, 32bit wont let you see 4gigs. You may see 3200mb max with a GTX card. Your BIOS SHOULD see 4 gigs if you have one specific setting turned on but it wont make your OS see more.

Best bet for now, if you got 4 gigs, cool. I wouldn't invest in nothing else right now. Not even 64bit OS'. If and when we need to, we'll probably need DDR4 ram or some shit like that. Everything I said is meant to the gamer.

Those CAD, graphic junkies that can get their proggys to work in the 64bit OS are the ones who really enjoy the benefit of 4g's or more of ram. Gaming should shoot similar results if you can get them to run. Still, as the other poster mentioned, he can play games in 64bit vista well. That's cool. So can we on 32bit. The same game he plays on the 64bit OS wont benefit from more than 3 or 4 gigs of ram because the game was not designed to use it.

If this doesn't makes sense, I'm sorry. It's late.
Click to expand...
 
I used to run Vista 64 on my main gaming puter, just ran into too many issues. Mainly with drivers that didn't work quite right, or 32-bit apps that weren't happy on the 64-bit OS. The OS did run a tad bit faster and booted up rather quick. Otherwise, I didn't notice any real improvement with games... and the system had 4gb of RAM. I went back to 32-bit Vista, and everything is happy as can be. No issues and everything runs great.

I still have Vista 64 on my media center puter... but it just plays videos all day. :)
 
64 bit cpu + 64 bit OS + 4gb = win.

funny how people kill themselves for every bit of performance out of their pc but when it comes to something simple as pairing a 64 bit CPU with a 64 bit OS they are like "WTF ORLY"???!!!?!??!?!!!!!?
 
Well made the jump to dual boot, it went without a hitch, one thing is xp does a hell of a better job at formatting a drive, so what I did was change the bios to boot on cd, then loaded xp installation, erased all partitions, had it create two partitions usually take the total and divide by two, and install xp on one partition. Once finished install vista on the other, easy as pie.
Now any recommendations for a defense system?
 
ellover009 said:
Now any recommendations for a defense system?
Click to expand...

I don't use anything at all. I'm behind a router so I don't run a software firewall, antivirus or spyware. Never had a problem.

I leave UAC on so code can't execute itself without permission. And I will run a virus scan from time to time on trendmicro's website so I don't have to install anything. And of course I use firefox.
 
I have both 64-bit vista and 64 bit xp running on my laptop (had some issues with getting them to dual boot, but fixed that), and they both run flawlessly
 
LawGiver said:
64 bit cpu + 64 bit OS + 4gb = win.

funny how people kill themselves for every bit of performance out of their pc but when it comes to something simple as pairing a 64 bit CPU with a 64 bit OS they are like "WTF ORLY"???!!!?!??!?!!!!!?
Click to expand...

That's because 64-bit is still not ready and performs inferior compared to 32-bit. Show me one gaming title that's coded for 64-bit.
 
Finn said:
That's because 64-bit is still not ready and performs inferior compared to 32-bit. Show me one gaming title that's coded for 64-bit.
Click to expand...

Half Life 2
FarCry
UT2004

To name a few.

64bit is certainly ready and does perform better in some areas, even with 32bit apps. With 64bit apps it will be better across the board.
 
Rofl you mean 3 32-bit gaming titles that were ported to 64-bit as a part of a marketing agreement? You got to try harder. :D
 
Finn said:
Rofl you mean 3 32-bit gaming titles that were ported to 64-bit as a part of a marketing agreement? You got to try harder. :D
Click to expand...

You wanted 64bit games. There you go. Maybe you should have specified 64bit games that weren't part of a marketing agreement? As if that matters. 64bit is the future. More are coming.
 
Come on, those games get no benefit whatsoever from the 64-bit port. They're identical in 32-bit if you count out the couple artificial enhancements done to 'prove' the superiority of the 64-bit base. In fact, exactly similar to what we see now with DX10. A few desperate titles with altered textures trying to convince people it's all that while it ain't.

Considering all the potential for problems and the lack of potential on actual enhancement, 64-bit is someone's puff in the crack pipe of marketing at the moment.

Let's see when games will actually require over 3 gigs of ram to run, by then the enviroment might already be a viable option. Heck even Vista might be appealing in 2-3 years.
 
Finn said:
Come on, those games get no benefit whatsoever from the 64-bit port.
Click to expand...

You mean other than being able to utilize twice as many 32-bit general purpose registers?

Not all advantages of a 64-bit system come from 64-bit addressing...
 
Other Games I have seen 64 bit support on include

Supreme Commander expansion
Hellgate
Commpany of Heroes
 
Croaker said:
Other Games I have seen 64 bit support on include

Supreme Commander expansion
Hellgate
Commpany of Heroes
Click to expand...
I believe all of those are tagged with the Games For Windows moniker, which requires them to run on both platforms.
 
Crysis is also 64bit game - btw Crysis editor officially support only 64bit systems...
 
Ok let me rephrase that: Show me any 64-bit games that actually showed any benefit from being 64-bit (or actually required it).

Just as with DX10 the 64-bit nature of games is still 100% superficial or artificial bringing no other benefit except seeing 'wow' it's for 64-bit darn it must be good. I'm sure it's all fine and comforting knowing that 64-bit extensions can be used even though you can't see it in anywhere while gaming the title.

Each to it's own I guess.. :rolleyes:

While on the other hand you may experience big time trouble playing the latest titles because 64-bit will force you into signed drivers only. Any even marginally special hardware will have big trouble working in the 64-bit enviroment not to mention legacy software which 95% of currently software available counts for.

If you like to be an early adopter and mess with new OSes just for the sake of it, fine do it and enjoy it. But don't BS people and tell them they need something they honestly do not.
 
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