Vista 32 or 64 bit? (And no i'm not interested in a Mac....)

[beanbag]

OK, since I've rebuilt my machine and now have a 64 bit processor, should I reinstall with Vista 64?

I was very impressed with Vista as I took the plunge and ran it again once I installed a new motherboard and CPU (From Socket A nForce2 to a Socket 939 nForce 3), and after a bit of hardware detection, it worked like a peach! Nice one Microsoft! Very impressive!!!

However, I now have the option to run the 64bit Vista version and i'm wondering if it's worth it or not?

I've got an MSDN license so I'm not bothered about licenses or anything like that so no cost involved but it's more of a time issue....

Ideas? Experiences?

[chris watton]

I think that really depends on what you use the PC for, if it's for heavy duty, memory hungry graphics work, then get the 64 bit for the extra memory you can install. If it's just for 'normal' software and games, a lot of games/software will not run in Vista 64, also, the 64 bit version will not accept unsigned drivers of any kind.

I found all this out because I too was tempted with the 64 bit version, but I would not be able to play the majority of my games and half my software would be useless!

[tank slapper]

What he ^ said.

Unless you know you need a 64 bit OS, don't bother. At the moment it will cause more hassle than any advantage you get.

[Jinx]

tank slapper said:

What he ^ said.

Unless you know you need a 64 bit OS, don't bother. At the moment it will cause more hassle than any advantage you get.

Unless you use the Ubuntu 64 bit OS - worked like a charm on my AMD 64 laptop.

[cottonfoo]

But still, unless you need the 64 bitness, it may well be performing slower than the 32 bit version

Steve (Debian Etch AMD64 SMP on 2 x Opteron 246)

[beanbag]

So 32bit it remains then! Ta!

P.S. Has anyone else had good hardware upgrade experiences with Vista? I was seriously impressed that it could simply install all the new hardware without flinching, reboot and then carry on as normal! Not a chance that could have happened with earlier Windows versions!

Very VERY impressive!!!!

[tank slapper]

beanbag said:

P.S. Has anyone else had good hardware upgrade experiences with Vista? I was seriously impressed that it could simply install all the new hardware without flinching, reboot and then carry on as normal! Not a chance that could have happened with earlier Windows versions!

Not the experience I've had. It has been a major pain in the arse with regard to some items and drivers. The ones that worked were fine, but with a few slightly older pieces of hardare there were numerous problems. This may well be rectified with new releases and updates, but I'm going to wait for a while until most of the problems have been ironed out.

[tank slapper]

Jinx said:

tank slapper said:

What he ^ said.

Unless you know you need a 64 bit OS, don't bother. At the moment it will cause more hassle than any advantage you get.

Unless you use the Ubuntu 64 bit OS - worked like a charm on my AMD 64 laptop.

That isn't really a suprise. I was mainly referring to Windows, which isn't quite as flexible.

Edited by tank slapper on Friday 1st June 14:37

[chris watton]

tank slapper said:

beanbag said:

P.S. Has anyone else had good hardware upgrade experiences with Vista? I was seriously impressed that it could simply install all the new hardware without flinching, reboot and then carry on as normal! Not a chance that could have happened with earlier Windows versions!

Not the experience I've had. It has been a major pain in the arse with regard to some items and drivers. The ones that worked were fine, but with a few slightly older pieces of hardare there were numerous problems. This may well be rectified with new releases and updates, but I'm going to wait for a while until most of the problems have been ironed out.

Same here - I did like Vista a lot, but can't use it at this point in time due to too many little 'niggles' regarding 'compatible with Vista' updates and patches for some of my stuff.

[beanbag]

chris watton said:

tank slapper said:

beanbag said:

P.S. Has anyone else had good hardware upgrade experiences with Vista? I was seriously impressed that it could simply install all the new hardware without flinching, reboot and then carry on as normal! Not a chance that could have happened with earlier Windows versions!

Not the experience I've had. It has been a major pain in the arse with regard to some items and drivers. The ones that worked were fine, but with a few slightly older pieces of hardare there were numerous problems. This may well be rectified with new releases and updates, but I'm going to wait for a while until most of the problems have been ironed out.

Same here - I did like Vista a lot, but can't use it at this point in time due to too many little 'niggles' regarding 'compatible with Vista' updates and patches for some of my stuff.

I guess my hardware is relatively new and I've always opted for recognised brands and not unknowns:

Athlon 64 4000+
Elitegroup nForce3 Motherboard
NEC Firewire Card
Hauppauge HVR-1300
SoundBlaster X-Fi
GeForce 6800 Ultra GPU

All my external stuff is Canon scanner, MSI bluetooth dongle and Microsoft MCE IR receiver. That's about it! Works a charm!

[Altrezia]

Running 64 here, had no issues with unsigned drivers, or games, or applications not working.

[ThePassenger]

Jinx said:

tank slapper said:

What he ^ said.

Unless you know you need a 64 bit OS, don't bother. At the moment it will cause more hassle than any advantage you get.

Unless you use the Ubuntu 64 bit OS - worked like a charm on my AMD 64 laptop.

Tried that on my Core 2 Duo laptop (which should have EMT64, I'm pretty sure it does). Thing stuttered all over the shop. But yeah it works pretty good on the AMD64-3400 I've got.

[Zod]

I haven't had a problem with a game in Vista 64 in the six months I've been using it. That said, I've had no need for the 64 bit addressing capability in that time either.

[Neezer]

Also on 64bit Vista Ultimate, no probs detected apart from some soundblaster x-fi related issues on Counterstrike and Sky Anytime wont work... Heard some older pieces of hardware may be dodgy, too.

[ThePassenger]

The odd thing is, why would you want a 64bit desktop? Then again I guess sooner or later we're going to see more 64bit apps appearing in the mainstream, but for general office work I can't see it being needed for absolute donkey years personally.

[theboss]

ThePassenger said:

The odd thing is, why would you want a 64bit desktop?

Stability.

In my experience, since it RTM'd in November, I've re-installed the 32-bit version on my laptop more often than I've rebooted the x64 version on my workstation.