question about 64bit

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3dsplorer

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Jan 29, 2008
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Ok, ive been reading a lot of fanboyism about vista 64bit greatness, and so, I've been considering giving it a try. But i have some questions. Right now im using xp 32bit, mostly because i dont have to look for a special flavor of any software that i want to install in my computer. If i move to vista 64bit, will i have to look for a "64bit" flavor of anything, driver, program, game, pr0n app :p , etc? Or just the first one listed will do? Also, i have a core2duo 2.4ghz. does that support 64bits?
 
Knowing if your processor supports an x64 OS would be the first question to answer, before even considering the software and drivers. But, to answer your question, it does support an x64 OS. All Core 2 Duos do.

As for the main part of your question, the answer is....it depends. For drivers, you definitely want to find the x64 versions. Most software will work just fine, but for many system utilities, such as AV software, defragmenters, etc, you'll either find a separate x64 version, or see that their one package installs on both platforms.

Take your time and do your reading before hand, to make sure you're prepared for the switch. Those of us who have switched, have no regrets.
 
ok, thank you for your answers. So I guess I would be restricted into finding the "x64" flavor of most stuff then. There are some applications that i use for work that don't work on 64bit systems, so i guess a solution would be dual booting.
 
Depending on the applications, if they truly don't work on x64 systems, you can always run Virtual PC or VirtualBox for them. If your processor supports Intel VT, and you have enough memory in your system, a virtual machine would be plenty capable of handling those tasks.
 
3dsplorer said:
ok, thank you for your answers. So I guess I would be restricted into finding the "x64" flavor of most stuff then. There are some applications that i use for work that don't work on 64bit systems, so i guess a solution would be dual booting.
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No.
Drivers and applications that directly access hardware will likely need 64bit versions. The only applications I have found issue with have been CoreTemps, and Intel TAT. But SpeedFan works and so does Rivatuner, so that's good enough for me. Daemon tools is another you have to download the x64 version as it installs a driver, but not an issue since an x64 is readily available on their site.

WOW32/64 emulator works excellently. Almost all 32bit applications work flawlessly, Nero, virtually all games and office utilities, etc. I would be VERY surprised if your work applications don't work.

If something doesn't work, then I would just stick with a 32bit OS. Dualbooting is too annoying.
 
Menelmarar said:
No.
Drivers and applications that directly access hardware will likely need 64bit versions. The only applications I have found issue with have been CoreTemps, and Intel TAT. But SpeedFan works and so does Rivatuner, so that's good enough for me. Daemon tools is another you have to download the x64 version as it installs a driver, but not an issue since an x64 is readily available on their site.

WOW32/64 emulator works excellently. Almost all 32bit applications work flawlessly, Nero, virtually all games and office utilities, etc. I would be VERY surprised if your work applications don't work.

If something doesn't work, then I would just stick with a 32bit OS. Dualbooting is too annoying.
Click to expand...

I've actually seen a possible unintentional side-effect of the WoW architecture that is very nice and makes some of my apps _more_ stable. WoW operates by creating a separated segment of memory for the individual 32-bit application. 64-bit apps and other 32-bit apps cannot access the memory for that instance of WoW.

This has actually made Flight Simulator X a bit more stable and I've seen it help PhotoShop CS3 as well. And, if the app suddenly dies and starts randomly writing to memory then it can only affect the memory segment it was assigned and as soon as the process is killed, the WoW session ends and that memory is then recycled back into the normal Windows environment for usage.
 
Damn, it seems like a lot of work and research to consider. I just want to use my pc for productive work. :) Maybe it'd be better to wait until every application under the sun is 64bits and 32bits becomes obsolete like 16bit are now.
 
There isn't any real reason to wait for all apps to become x64. The vast majority of them work just as well under x64 as they do under x86. All it takes is some simple research, and by now, I would have hoped you'd have installed and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.
 
I just ordered a Vista Ultimate 64bit edition to try out on my P5B Wifi/Deluxe board with 2.4 Quad and 4GB of Memory with a 8800 GTS 640MB.... *crosses fingers* :cool:
 
Skids1 said:
I just ordered a Vista Ultimate 64bit edition to try out on my P5B Wifi/Deluxe board with 2.4 Quad and 4GB of Memory with a 8800 GTS 640MB.... *crosses fingers* :cool:
Click to expand...
You should have no issue with that hardware, see sig.
 
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