Why I went 64-bit?

[patrickt]

I downloaded Windows7 32-bit and 64-bit first day. I used the 32-bit until five days ago. With Vista, I couldn't find all the 32-bit drivers I needed when I'd bought it. I never even considered taking a shot at 64-bit. But, I kept reading that people were finding workable drivers for 64-bit.

As I thought about it, 64-bit is clearly what's coming. It made sense to try it for free. So, five days ago I installed Windows7 64-bit beta. It wasn't seamless. I had problems with my Intel SMBus driver but got that solved. I had more of a problem with my HP Laserjet 1020 printer but, hey, it wasn't that smooth in 32-bit. After a few hours of messing around I got it working.

Then I installed my software. I don't use a lot. As more is included in Windows I install less. For example, I didn't worry about Nero for burning DVDs this time or a defrag program. My Microsoft Office 2003 loaded and ran fine. My really old Random House Websters Unabridged Dictionary ran fine. The only program that wouldn't install or run was Microsoft Bookshelf in Spanish. Go figure. The codecs for viewed my Pentax raw files in Windows wouldn't load either. They did fine in 32-bit.

I have only two 64-bit programs. One is IE8 and the other is Lightroom2. Windows7 64-bit has both the 32-bit and 64-bit IE8 and they both work fine but 64-bit is faster. Lightroom2 64-bit is noticably faster than 32-bit although I'm not running them side by side.

I'm happy enough with 64-bit that I've ordered more memory and I've decided to buy the 64-bit when it hits the market.

 

[AtticTron]

I cant see why anyone would still use a 32 bit OS if they have a 64 bit CPU. I've installed both vista 64 and 7 x64 in a couple of PCs and never had any issues.

 

[UKForce]

So drivers are quite easy to sort out then now, and software etc is mostly ok?

 

[scaramonga]

I cant see why anyone would still use a 32 bit OS if they have a 64 bit CPU. I've installed both vista 64 and 7 x64 in a couple of PCs and never had any issues.

I agree!, but I'd avoid any version of Bloatista, 7 x64 is brilliant

 

[TripOG]

i went X64 because i upgraded hardware and its only right to upgrade software aswell

 

[AtticTron]

I agree!, but I'd avoid any version of Bloatista, 7 x64 is brilliant

Actually for me Vista 64 is more stable than win 7, but of course 7 is still in beta so that can change. Vista is pretty good especially with SP2.

 

[weedmonk]

Makes no difference for configurations under 4gigs of RAM. Personally I've not noticed any difference in my regular tasks either way. I'm sure if I fire up something resource heavy I'd notice it.

 

[elZee]

Apologies for the dumb question but will my 'steam' games run under x64? ie: Insurgency (half life mod) Red orchestra etc. ?

Currently running x86 with an AMD64 4000+ 2.41 Ghz chip running on an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium m/b with 2g RAM.

OK I did a quick google and found the answer to my own question .. I think

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/32-bit-and-64-bit-explained.htm

 

[Lordbob75]

Makes no difference for configurations under 4gigs of RAM. Personally I've not noticed any difference in my regular tasks either way. I'm sure if I fire up something resource heavy I'd notice it.

Wrong! See this post by Brink: 64-bit: More than just the RAM - Vista Forums

Apologies for the dumb question but will my 'steam' games run under x64? ie: Insurgency (half life mod) Red orchestra etc. ?

Currently running x86 with an AMD64 4000+ 2.41 Ghz chip running on an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium m/b with 2g RAM.

Steam will run just fine. It does for me, though I have not tried it on Seven. Should work fine though. If you try it, let us know how it goes.

~Lordbob

 

[elZee]

Wrong! See this post by Brink: 64-bit: More than just the RAM - Vista Forums Steam will run just fine. It does for me, though I have not tried it on Seven. Should work fine though. If you try it, let us know how it goes. ~Lordbob

LB, Steam runs fine on 7. I'm using seven on my main box .. crazy I know but it is exciting! lol!

Initially RO wouldn't run .. deleted the ini file and 'bing' fired up with no additional problems.

So far Audio is the only thing that crashes the system. Every now and then there'll be a serious "BUZZ" run through the system and my headsets then .. crash!! This is always usually when playing RO. meh!

 

[Lordbob75]

So far Audio is the only thing that crashes the system. Every now and then there'll be a serious "BUZZ" run through the system and my headsets then .. crash!! This is always usually when playing RO. meh!

I had that with Vista (and seven) and just took out my Sound Card because I got sick of it and was too lazy to fix it.

I am running seven on my main rig as well.

~Lordbob

 

[elZee]

I had that with Vista (and seven) and just took out my Sound Card because I got sick of it and was too lazy to fix it.
~Lordbob

OK .. so the m/b audio doesn't have that issue? Might just do the bloody same thing then! Good idea!

 

[Lordbob75]

OK .. so the m/b audio doesn't have that issue? Might just do the bloody same thing then! Good idea!

Yeah my mobo works great. Probably has better sound anyways.... lol. It was an older sound card. I think 4 years old... Brand new mobo, so it probably is!

~Lordbob

 

[Jaqie]

I actually went 64 bit in prep for getting over 2GB ram on my old system...
Now ive upgraded beyond 32 bit's handling capacity, and Im already used to 64 bit xp and win7.

Everything works fine (except some win7 bugs but hey it's beta) and the only system I don't have a 64 bit OS on is my lenovo S10 which maxes out at 2GB RAM as well as being the intel atom cpu. I am so glad the market is finally supporting 64 bit oses, they have finally matured to the point that IMO it's better to run them if you can.

The only gripe I have is that with MS 64 bit OSes they dropped support for some older hardware... I miss using my SB16PCI as a secondary sound card - my mobo sound is actually the realtek azalia codec, 192Khz@24 bit... it's amazing, better sound in an $80 mobo then most $100 sound cards.


I actually jumped on the 64 bit hardware bandwagon as soon as consumer level hardware for it appeared, but not for 64 bit... I am an SMP fanatic, and got the athlon64 x2 right when it was introduced to the public... Ive been 64 bit in hardware since then, that was about four years ago, and have played with xp64 and ubuntu64 (and a few other flavors of linux) since then, but now I am not playing, they are my main OSes.

 

[jimbo45]

Actually for me Vista 64 is more stable than win 7, but of course 7 is still in beta so that can change. Vista is pretty good especially with SP2.

Windows VISTA SP2 is also in BETA (expiry Mar 2010).

Whatever the merits / de-merits of VISTA vs XP vs W7 I can't say I've had many instances of any of these OS'es crashing or hanging -- so what on EARTH are you guys doing with your systems that they become unstable.

Maybe some intense games (I don't play these myself) or other video intensive stuff but most applications are pretty solid -- they either work or don't work --rarely do they cause the system itself to crash.

cheers
jimbo

 

[Jaqie]

what on EARTH are you guys doing with your systems that they become unstable

Actually, I find that almost all software problems (instability, crashes, errors, what have you) are rooted in flaky/crappy/bad hardware or drivers, most often the root cause is actually a P.O.S. power supply. If you EVER hooked up an Oscilloscope to a running crappy power supply and looked at the crap that comes out of it instead of steady, clean voltage and knew what that kind of power does to PC hardware, YOUR pc hardware over time, you would feel like throwing up. But that's just the most common cause in my experience.

Kingston did a study a few years back, about RAM return rates... and found that over 80% of the RAM that was RMAed had been exposed to extremely bad power... I know the situation has changed some since then but until everyone starts putting real, sturdy, good power supplies in their computers this will continue to be the biggest cause of all hardware and software problems (again, in my experience and in my opinion).

 

[AtticTron]

Windows VISTA SP2 is also in BETA (expiry Mar 2010).


jimbo

Vista SP2 is actually in RC1 so for me its stable.

 

[Lordbob75]

Kingston did a study a few years back, about RAM return rates... and found that over 80% of the RAM that was RMAed had been exposed to extremely bad power... I know the situation has changed some since then but until everyone starts putting real, sturdy, good power supplies in their computers this will continue to be the biggest cause of all hardware and software problems (again, in my experience and in my opinion).

Thats because people like Dell and HP have no idea how to build a real computer. They use the cheapest parts they can get.

~Lordbob