Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 )

RaVeN_1 · 06-27-2008, 12:57 PM

Well, I've finally got to the point when I must migrate to a new OS and unfortunately it has to be Vista

So I've been using Windows XP Pro for some time, let's say about 6 years or so

the next OS is definitively Vista Ultimate ( it will pass quiet some time before Windows 7 will hit the market) , since I'am getting the Retail package, I was wondering should I install the x86 or x64 edition ( both versions are included in the retail pack ), the specs for my system are the following :
Intel C2Q Q9450
8GB DDR2-1066 Mushkin
ASUS Rampage Formula
HD3870x2 ( 2 x 4870 as soon as they get availibile in croatia )
....

The system is mainly used for gaming, and some work in C++ (6.0), Visio 2003 Pro, etc.

RaVeN_1

P.S. I'am aware that 8 gigs won't be used if I install the 32 bit edition

*polonyc2* · 06-27-2008, 01:07 PM

I've been running Vista Business 64 bit for the past few months with no issues at all...and I'm a big time gamer...no problems with any drivers or games...even my 8 year old Epson Stylus Color 880 printer's drivers were found and installed automatically by Vista (that was the only component I was worried about not finding drivers for)

only real negative for me would be that Internet Explorer 7 64 bit is pretty much useless at the moment because there is no 64 bit version of Flash currently available and it seems a lot of sites I visit use Flash...so I stick with the 32 bit version of IE which is fine...also the 64 bit version of Java was acting weird too so I don't use that either

other then that...smooth as silk...all of my important programs work fine

plus another good thing about Vista is that you don't have to activate it during the initial installation (you get a 30 day free trial)...so you can set everything up with all your hardware and software, use it for 30 days and then if something does not work correctly you can easily install the 32 bit version without having to use up an activation

ATINUT · 06-27-2008, 02:56 PM

Other than 3rd party programs like Diskeeper and Intel's Matrix Storage drivers giving me grief, I have no problems with Vista 64. Vista 64 even had drivers for my HP Deskjet 920c printer, and my Fujifilm digital camera.

If you want to go 64bit Vista, make sure you have 64bit drivers handy on a cd or DVD if Vista 64 doesn't have drivers for all your hardware built in. I'm using Vista 64 Ultimate.

TQ · 06-27-2008, 03:55 PM

Vista64 Business is what's on my game machine and I like it quite a lot. I'd go as far to say that it's really enhanced my game experience with better audio and video than I had with XP.
No issues with it here.
I think Vista's gotten an unfair rap...it was no less a mess than XP was when it was first released. Now that SP1 is part of the package Vista, like XP, has matured and is presently quite a nice OS.

The only difference between when XP was first released and Vista's debut is that more people are online now to dis it than there were when XP debuted (although I recall a week of Doonesbury strips doing just that to XP).
Like any good anecdotal urban legend the horrors of Vista have only grown in the telling.

The only caution I'd suggest is turning of UAC which is very easy to do. I wouldn't suggest you do that if you were configuring Vista for a less than advanced user but otherwise flip the switch on it.

wallijonn · 06-27-2008, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TQ

I think Vista's gotten an unfair rap...it was no less a mess than XP was when it was first released. Now that SP1 is part of the package Vista, like XP, has matured and is presently quite a nice OS.

Nah. The rap is WELL deserved.

I remember I was using W2K and the day XP came out I bought it. Hell, there were lines that midnight morning at Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City. But when Vista came out there were no lines to be found anywhere.

So, tell me, exactly why would anyone want to use a mem stick for caching? I'd just as soon install a fast CF memory card than a mem stick of questionable speed.

TQ · 06-27-2008, 05:48 PM

I installed XP on my workstation a few weeks after it was released. It promptly exploded. After I glued the pieces back together I reloaded Win2K and didn't touch XP for another year.

RaVeN_1 · 06-28-2008, 01:25 AM

Quote:

If you want to go 64bit Vista, make sure you have 64bit drivers handy on a cd or DVD if Vista 64 doesn't have drivers for all your hardware built in. I'm using Vista 64 Ultimate.

Well all the drivers are ready

I've even found the ones for my PCI Express X-Fi Xtreme Audio

Quote:

The only caution I'd suggest is turning of UAC which is very easy to do. I wouldn't suggest you do that if you were configuring Vista for a less than advanced user but otherwise flip the switch on it.

Anyway, I was thinking of killing UAC until I configure all of the windows services, drivers, software, etc and after that I could turn it on, well anyway if it starts bugging me I'll simply kill it

Well, after I've heard your opinions, I'll install the 64bit edition.

Oh one other thing

when using USB flash drives for ready boost... As I've heard using a USB stick on a system with more than 4gigs of ram results in system slowdown

RaVeN_1

ATINUT · 06-28-2008, 08:53 AM

I tried Readyboost using a Crucial USB memory stick, that's supposed to be certified for Readyboost, and wouldn't you know it, the USB memory stick had a lot of problems, and wasn't stable enough for Readyboost, including one time on boot, chkdsk popped off and scanned it. All this happened when I had 4GB's of ram in my system.

johnrr6 · 06-28-2008, 12:29 PM

I used 4 gig memory boost sticks with vista Home and Ultimate----and never really noticed an improvement----although benchmarks DID go up ever so slightly.....but the "feel" really didn't change....

I basically stopped using it when I went to Vista 64 and 8 gigs of RAM----really not necessary at all....

In fact----with DDR2 so cheap now----if you go Vista 64 ultimate----get at least 4 gigs of RAM and your entire Vista experience will be sweet.

I got 8 gigs for around $150 after rebates and Vista seems to just zing along....

ATINUT · 06-28-2008, 01:30 PM

I didn't notice any true performance boost, using Readyboost at all. My performance boost came when 3 weeks ago, I went to 8GB's of ram.

johnrr6 · 06-28-2008, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATINUT

I didn't notice any true performance boost, using Readyboost at all. My performance boost came when 3 weeks ago, I went to 8GB's of ram.

I tend to agree-----Vista loves a LOT of RAM and with 8 gigs----it just really zips.....

And it does that with everything still turned on......

I used to use a quick tune up guide when I first started using Vista----not any more.....

The only things I turn off now are UAC and the sidebar.

with Vista 64----8 gigs and a fast quad or dual core----the OS flys nicely

TQ · 06-28-2008, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnrr6

The only things I turn off now are UAC and the sidebar.

I like the sidebar...the big high school clock and the calender work for me. There's also some good user designed gadgets, too.

ATINUT · 06-28-2008, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnrr6

I tend to agree-----Vista loves a LOT of RAM and with 8 gigs----it just really zips.....

And it does that with everything still turned on......

I used to use a quick tune up guide when I first started using Vista----not any more.....

The only things I turn off now are UAC and the sidebar.

with Vista 64----8 gigs and a fast quad or dual core----the OS flys nicely

Now that I have 8GB's of ram, I can get away with using the sidebar now, more so than I did on 4GB's of ram.

Another thing I did was to quit using 3rd party harddrive defrag utilities, they did nothing but cause performance problems and mess up two of my harddrives to the point, I had to back up the data on them, and reformat them.

I also didn't do the QOS Bandwidth tweak that's going around on the web, because I learned it doesn't increase your internet speed, and this is contrary to what a lot of websites claim, and along with this, I didn't do the cache boot files only tweak either, I didn't see a big performance increase there either. Best to let Vista learn your habits, ie what programs and games you run, and let it set itself accordingly.

S.SubZero · 06-29-2008, 04:00 AM

If you do not intend to use Media Center, don't get Ultimate. One of my big beefs with Vista is that the very first time Media Center is launched, regardless of whether you ever plan to use it again or not, it starts up a bunch of services and adds stuff to the startup. It really blows away the "secure by default" principal at MS when you suddenly, *quietly* introduce a bunch of new running code that for 99% of the time serves absolutely no purpose.

Vista Business doesn't come with Media Center. It does come with most of the other stuff though.

zapionics<alt> · 06-29-2008, 06:48 AM

While we're on it; what is the experience with Vista 64 and quad versus duo? Anyone able to say if one is better than the other for performance?

06-27-2008, 12:57 PM	#1
RaVeN_1 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Rijeka, Croatia Posts: 142	Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) Well, I've finally got to the point when I must migrate to a new OS and unfortunately it has to be Vista So I've been using Windows XP Pro for some time, let's say about 6 years or so the next OS is definitively Vista Ultimate ( it will pass quiet some time before Windows 7 will hit the market) , since I'am getting the Retail package, I was wondering should I install the x86 or x64 edition ( both versions are included in the retail pack ), the specs for my system are the following : Intel C2Q Q9450 8GB DDR2-1066 Mushkin ASUS Rampage Formula HD3870x2 ( 2 x 4870 as soon as they get availibile in croatia ) .... The system is mainly used for gaming, and some work in C++ (6.0), Visio 2003 Pro, etc. RaVeN_1 P.S. I'am aware that 8 gigs won't be used if I install the 32 bit edition __________________ MAIN RIG : ASUS Rampage Formula, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 3.4GHz, ThermalTake BigTyp 120VX, 4 x 2Gb Mushkin DDR2 1066, Sapphire HD4870x2 2048Mb GDDR5, NEC 20WGX2 Pro @ DVI, Creative Labs X-Fi Extreme Audio PCIe, WD VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB, 2 x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 32Mb S-ATA II, Optiarc AD-7170S S-ATA DVD±RW, Logitech MX Revolution + Razer Mantis SpeedPad, Logitech G15 r2, Zalman ZM850-HP 850W PSU, Chieftec MESH midi tower black + noise dumping material, Thomson ST780(i)WL + ASUS WL-500b router, TDK XsIv-80 speakers, Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 x64 BACK UP RIG : ASUS Maximus Formula, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz, Noctua NH-U12 + 120mm CoolLink 800rpm vent, 2 x 2Gb Corsair DDR2 800, Sapphire HD4870 512MB GDDR5, Philips 200WS8FB @ DVI, Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 16MB S-ATA II, Optiarc AD-7170S S-ATA DVD±RW, Logitech MX 1000 Laser + SteelPad S&S, Logitech Ultra X Flat, ASUS P-55GA 550W PSU, Chieftec MESH mini tower black + noise dumping material, Divoom Xforce 3 speakers, Windows XP Professional SP3
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06-27-2008, 01:07 PM	#2
polonyc2 Helter Skelter Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York City Posts: 7,266	I've been running Vista Business 64 bit for the past few months with no issues at all...and I'm a big time gamer...no problems with any drivers or games...even my 8 year old Epson Stylus Color 880 printer's drivers were found and installed automatically by Vista (that was the only component I was worried about not finding drivers for) only real negative for me would be that Internet Explorer 7 64 bit is pretty much useless at the moment because there is no 64 bit version of Flash currently available and it seems a lot of sites I visit use Flash...so I stick with the 32 bit version of IE which is fine...also the 64 bit version of Java was acting weird too so I don't use that either other then that...smooth as silk...all of my important programs work fine plus another good thing about Vista is that you don't have to activate it during the initial installation (you get a 30 day free trial)...so you can set everything up with all your hardware and software, use it for 30 days and then if something does not work correctly you can easily install the 32 bit version without having to use up an activation __________________ ASUS Maximus Formula (X38) *** EVGA 8800GT Superclocked 512MB Intel E8400 * Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro G.Skill 4 GB (2 X 2 GB) DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 * Western Digital RE2 500 GB WD5001ABYS Lian Li PC-A70B (black) * Corsair HX620 AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 * Creative Inspire P5800 5.1 speakers Lite-On DVD-RW w/LightScribe LH-20A1L-06 * Sony GDM-F520 21' CRT monitor (19.8' viewable) Vista Business 64-bit w/SP1 * standard 3.5" floppy drive Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 *** Microsoft Wired Keyboard 500 (Black)
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06-27-2008, 02:56 PM	#3
ATINUT Just Plain Crazy! Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 3,255	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) Other than 3rd party programs like Diskeeper and Intel's Matrix Storage drivers giving me grief, I have no problems with Vista 64. Vista 64 even had drivers for my HP Deskjet 920c printer, and my Fujifilm digital camera. If you want to go 64bit Vista, make sure you have 64bit drivers handy on a cd or DVD if Vista 64 doesn't have drivers for all your hardware built in. I'm using Vista 64 Ultimate. __________________ Intel D975XBX2 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 8GB's of Mushkin HP2 6400 memory(DDR2 800) Visiontek Radeon 3870X2 videocard HT Omega Claro(Cmedia 8788HD chip) 120GB&200GB&320GB Western Digital harddrives LG DVDROM & LG DVDBURNER HP Deskjet 920C Logitech X-540 speakers Viewsonic VG2030wm 20inch Widescreen LCD Windows XP Pro 32bit Who'se the fool that approved the design for this place. - The Dwarf, Sacred Underworld. Last edited by ATINUT : 06-27-2008 at 04:42 PM.
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06-27-2008, 03:55 PM	#4
TQ You gonna throw that? Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 8,442	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) Vista64 Business is what's on my game machine and I like it quite a lot. I'd go as far to say that it's really enhanced my game experience with better audio and video than I had with XP. No issues with it here. I think Vista's gotten an unfair rap...it was no less a mess than XP was when it was first released. Now that SP1 is part of the package Vista, like XP, has matured and is presently quite a nice OS. The only difference between when XP was first released and Vista's debut is that more people are online now to dis it than there were when XP debuted (although I recall a week of Doonesbury strips doing just that to XP). Like any good anecdotal urban legend the horrors of Vista have only grown in the telling. The only caution I'd suggest is turning of UAC which is very easy to do. I wouldn't suggest you do that if you were configuring Vista for a less than advanced user but otherwise flip the switch on it. __________________ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me - Psalm 51:10 My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dogs already think I am... Daywalker Studio: Software: Adobe Audition 3.0/Pro Tools LE 7.4/Acid Pro 6.0/Multiple VST, DirectX and RTAS plugins/Kontakt 3 Sampler/Windows XP Professional PC Hardware: D975XBX2-504/E6600/4x2GB Mushkin XP2-6400/eVGA 800GTX/HP f1905 19" flat panel/Echo Audio Gina24 Sound Card/2 Maxtor 6B300SO's/1 Maxtor STM500AS/1 Western Digital WD2500JD/PleXwriter Premium/Plextor 716A/Samsung LightScribe DVD burner/Logitech Revolution MX/Antec P-180b/PPC&C Silencer 610/Zalman CNPS9500 HSF Recording Hardware: Mbox 2 Factory Pro/Mackie SR24.4VLZ Pro Console/M-Audio Axiom 25 MIDI Controller/Audio-Technica 4033a microphone/Symetrix 528E/PreSonus Eureka/Mackie MR8 active monitors Game Machine: Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6/E8400/4x2GB Mushkin XP2-8500/BFG GTX280/HP f2105 21" flat panel/Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro/Maxtor 6H500F0/Maxtor STM3320/Western Digital WD4000KD/Plextor 760A/Toshiba DVD-ROM/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec P-180/PPC&C Silencer 610/Ideazon Merc Stealth keyboard/Vista Business64 SP1
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06-27-2008, 05:48 PM	#6
TQ You gonna throw that? Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 8,442	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) I installed XP on my workstation a few weeks after it was released. It promptly exploded. After I glued the pieces back together I reloaded Win2K and didn't touch XP for another year. __________________ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me - Psalm 51:10 My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dogs already think I am... Daywalker Studio: Software: Adobe Audition 3.0/Pro Tools LE 7.4/Acid Pro 6.0/Multiple VST, DirectX and RTAS plugins/Kontakt 3 Sampler/Windows XP Professional PC Hardware: D975XBX2-504/E6600/4x2GB Mushkin XP2-6400/eVGA 800GTX/HP f1905 19" flat panel/Echo Audio Gina24 Sound Card/2 Maxtor 6B300SO's/1 Maxtor STM500AS/1 Western Digital WD2500JD/PleXwriter Premium/Plextor 716A/Samsung LightScribe DVD burner/Logitech Revolution MX/Antec P-180b/PPC&C Silencer 610/Zalman CNPS9500 HSF Recording Hardware: Mbox 2 Factory Pro/Mackie SR24.4VLZ Pro Console/M-Audio Axiom 25 MIDI Controller/Audio-Technica 4033a microphone/Symetrix 528E/PreSonus Eureka/Mackie MR8 active monitors Game Machine: Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6/E8400/4x2GB Mushkin XP2-8500/BFG GTX280/HP f2105 21" flat panel/Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro/Maxtor 6H500F0/Maxtor STM3320/Western Digital WD4000KD/Plextor 760A/Toshiba DVD-ROM/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec P-180/PPC&C Silencer 610/Ideazon Merc Stealth keyboard/Vista Business64 SP1
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06-28-2008, 08:53 AM	#8
ATINUT Just Plain Crazy! Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 3,255	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) I tried Readyboost using a Crucial USB memory stick, that's supposed to be certified for Readyboost, and wouldn't you know it, the USB memory stick had a lot of problems, and wasn't stable enough for Readyboost, including one time on boot, chkdsk popped off and scanned it. All this happened when I had 4GB's of ram in my system. __________________ Intel D975XBX2 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 8GB's of Mushkin HP2 6400 memory(DDR2 800) Visiontek Radeon 3870X2 videocard HT Omega Claro(Cmedia 8788HD chip) 120GB&200GB&320GB Western Digital harddrives LG DVDROM & LG DVDBURNER HP Deskjet 920C Logitech X-540 speakers Viewsonic VG2030wm 20inch Widescreen LCD Windows XP Pro 32bit Who'se the fool that approved the design for this place. - The Dwarf, Sacred Underworld.
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06-28-2008, 12:29 PM	#9
johnrr6 Lucky Amateur Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Virginia Posts: 2,306	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) I used 4 gig memory boost sticks with vista Home and Ultimate----and never really noticed an improvement----although benchmarks DID go up ever so slightly.....but the "feel" really didn't change.... I basically stopped using it when I went to Vista 64 and 8 gigs of RAM----really not necessary at all.... In fact----with DDR2 so cheap now----if you go Vista 64 ultimate----get at least 4 gigs of RAM and your entire Vista experience will be sweet. I got 8 gigs for around $150 after rebates and Vista seems to just zing along.... __________________ 1st Rig:-----------------------------------------------------2nd Rig: Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz------------------------------------------9850 BE at 2.6 Ghz Vista Ultimate Edition 32 Bit SP1--------------------------Vista Ultimate Edition 64 Bit SP1 AB9QuadGT, BIOS .13-------------------------------------AsRock 780G BIOS 1.50 Thermalright SI-128 HS w/JMC 120 PWM Fan------------Thermaltake Blue Orb II 4 x 1 Gig Gskill PC 6400 Micron D9's---------------------Mushkin 4 x 2 Gig PC8500 eVGA 8800 GTX--------------------------------------------ATI HD 4870 4 x 250 Gig Western Digital SATA II HDs in RAID 5-----2 x 500Gig Western Digital SATA II HDs in RAID 0 Lite-On 20x DVD Burner w/Lightscribe--------------------Samsung SATA Tru Direct DVD Burner w/Lightscribe OCZ 700 W GameXstream PSU---------------------------Silverstone 500 Watt ST50EF PSU Creative X-Fi sound----------------------------------------Azalia Onboard Sound Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Black Case--------------------------Silverstone SG01 SFF Black Case Speedlink Medusa 5.1 headphones----------------------Hauppage 1600 TV Card
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06-28-2008, 01:30 PM	#10
ATINUT Just Plain Crazy! Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 3,255	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) I didn't notice any true performance boost, using Readyboost at all. My performance boost came when 3 weeks ago, I went to 8GB's of ram. __________________ Intel D975XBX2 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 8GB's of Mushkin HP2 6400 memory(DDR2 800) Visiontek Radeon 3870X2 videocard HT Omega Claro(Cmedia 8788HD chip) 120GB&200GB&320GB Western Digital harddrives LG DVDROM & LG DVDBURNER HP Deskjet 920C Logitech X-540 speakers Viewsonic VG2030wm 20inch Widescreen LCD Windows XP Pro 32bit Who'se the fool that approved the design for this place. - The Dwarf, Sacred Underworld.
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06-29-2008, 04:00 AM	#14
S.SubZero Vista x64 User Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: California Posts: 1,262	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) If you do not intend to use Media Center, don't get Ultimate. One of my big beefs with Vista is that the very first time Media Center is launched, regardless of whether you ever plan to use it again or not, it starts up a bunch of services and adds stuff to the startup. It really blows away the "secure by default" principal at MS when you suddenly, quietly introduce a bunch of new running code that for 99% of the time serves absolutely no purpose. Vista Business doesn't come with Media Center. It does come with most of the other stuff though. __________________ -SSZ
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06-29-2008, 06:48 AM	#15
zapionics<alt> <unknown level> Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: AUSTRALIA Posts: 2,849	Re: Vista 32 or 64bit ( x86 or x64 ) While we're on it; what is the experience with Vista 64 and quad versus duo? Anyone able to say if one is better than the other for performance? __________________ "To Boldly Go..."
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