A few questions when considering Vista

[Decko87]

I'm currently running XP 32-bit on my computer which is listed in my signature. First off I'll begin with the easier questions. Is 2 gigs of ram really enough to game with it? I hear it likes a lot more ram. Also, what kind of performance drops will I notice in games? Will I need any specific drivers for any of my hardware? For the more complicated questions I'm considering using the 64-bit edition and getting a ram upgrade to 4 gigs. Is that much ram nessecary to run vista flawlessly?(last easy question I swear). The harder questions I think may not be harder but more specific. I record a lot of music on my computer with an Mbox 2 pro and pro tools, will I need a Vista version of protools? And does protools work at all on 64-bit? The lesser of the two issues is using an I-pod, if my music is erased by doing a fresh install, will I be able to use my i-pod on this new computer? Will it get synced over and emptied when my new version of I-tunes is empty? Is there a lot of 64-bit compatibility issues with games? For example I'm currently playing The Witcher. Also, is there a lot of software compatibility issues I should still be worried about with Vista in general? Also, I'd like to know if there are more issues with a 64-bit OS?

I know it's a pretty long list but I'm sure someone can answer a few of the questions, anyway here's a preemptive thanks to anyone who takes the time.

 

[Joe Average]

1) 2GB is plenty, but read answer 3 below before committing to that.

2) At this point, with the video drivers as matured as they are (finally) you should not see performance drops compared to XP, and if they exist, they're minimal. I can't quote specifics since I don't sit around doing benchmarks 24/7 - there are plenty of websites that post such info, but really: the only one that matters is you doing them on your machine.

3) 4GB is the sweet spot these days for [H]ardcore people. 2GB, 3GB, it just ain't cutting it, so 4GB is the sweet spot. Besides, for the price it's better to just get 4GB now and be done with it before some chip plant in some east Asian country gets destroyed by a typhoon/hurricane/tsunami/earthquake/<insert natural disaster of choice here> and then RAM prices surge back up to ridiculous levels. If you can afford 4GB of RAM right now there is absolute no reason not to get that much, right now.

4) You'd really need to contact Mtools and see what's going on with their Vista support. The primary reason I don't use Vista as a day to day OS (at all anymore) is because of the sound editing and audio production work I do. Microsoft ripped out DirectSound - the very heart of Windows audio for the past 13 years - right out of Vista and it's causing problems for some applications as well as vendor support. You really should contact the vendor to resolve/satisfy the questions regarding their product(s).

5) iTunes had some issues with Vista when Vista first came out - I blame Apple on that, a marketing tactic to make people hate Vista just that much more. At this time, I'm not aware of any issues or incompatibilities between Vista and iTunes, regardless of the version of Vista (x86 or x64).

6) I'm not aware of any gaming issues that matter, or incompatibilities that simply make games not work at all. One thing you have to realize: if a product has a Vista Compatible sticker on it, to get that sticker the product MUST be x86 (32 bit) and x64 (64 bit) compatible and function 100% under both versions of Vista (32 and 64 bit). That's a plus for consumers because it means if a product has that logo/sticker on the box or wherever it's mentioned in the documentation, the product has gone through Windows software assurance testing - products cannot use that "Vista Compatible" logo/sticker unless Microsoft signs off on the product and has verified it works for 32 bit and 64 bit versions, period. One caveat: if you have old DOS-based type games, or any software at all that is 16 bit by nature, or uses a 16 bit installer, forget it - 16 bit software will not run in a 64 bit environment natively. You'd have to use a virtual machine of some kind to run that code, inside the host OS which would be 64 bit.

7) Not sure if there are/will be application issues or incompatibilities because I don't have the slightest clue what software you will use. There are literally hundreds of threads at this forum about 32 bit vs 64 bit OSes, more nowadays because Vista is the first mainstream OS to have both flavors. XP x64 and Server 2003/2008 x64 are not mainstream OSes meant for consumers, realistically, they never have been or were designed for such people. Aside from the 16 bit no-no I just mentioned in #6 above, that's pretty much it.

8) There are no issues with a 64 bit OS aside from the lack of real knowledge, experience, and information that exists but people don't seem to go out and learn on their own (no offense). It's out there, but people just typically hear that stupid ignorant rumor that "64 bit Windows sucks, there's no drivers and it's slow" which as any serious 64 bit Windows user will tell you is absolute horseshit and wrong on both counts.

www.start64.com is a nice place to check in sometime, designed from the ground up to be a 64 bit Windows resource for info, drivers, community, etc. but they do cover other 64 bit OSes as well. www.planetamd64.com (the name was chosen because AMD hit the consumer level 64 bit CPU market first, but the site is still around and still quite popular) is another great resource for 64 bit info, etc.

The only way to truly answer your questions is to build a box and get Vista x64 on it for a solid month and then make your long-term choice of an OS. If you're not willing to use Vista x64 for one solid month even with issues you'll need to resolve if and when they occur, then stick with the 32 bit OS and remain somewhat in the past - and remember that your RAM will never be useful past ~3GB.

Good luck, regardless...