Doing a New Build - is Vista 64-bit a good option?

[Dadofamunky]

I;m doing a spanking new build over the next couple months and am seriously considering 64-bit Vista. I've played around with it at work and I think I'm ready to start switching over. The new system has the following specs:

Asus P5E-VM HDMI
Intel e6750 or e8400
4 GB G.Skill DDR2-1000
2x250 GB Seagates in RAID 0 plus disk imaging
ATI 3870 HD
LG combo HD-DVD/BluRay drive
Lian-Li MicroATX case, etc...

Not really interested in XP for this one, and have **zero** interest in Linux. So it's between 32-bit Vista and 64-bit Vista. 64-bit XP is worse than useless for me, so...

If I went for 64-bit Vista, am I giving up anything significant? Will all my critical Adobe and Microsoft 32-bit apps run on 64-bit Vista? I know about the extended memory usage, which is why I'm really considering it (I remember when 8 kb was an awesome amount of memory; now 8 GB is easily within reach. And to be able to do it so cheaply? Remarkable.)

Other questions:

• Does Vista do a better job handling affinity than XP does?
  How do 32-bit apps behave under Vista?

My plans are not to cut over to it very quickly, as my existing XP system is quite optimized and running great. I expect a six-month burn-in and tweaking period, installation of the service pack, driver updates, and a lot of research in the meantime. It'll basically be my new toy until it's running the way I want.

Any thoughts and input are appreciated.

 

[Unicron80]

I'm gonna piggyback on this topic, if you don't mind, OP.

I would really like to know the answer to this question, as well. My new system will have similar specs. From my research on the interweb, it looks like the driver situation is a lot better these days, and will continue to improve.

Only difference in my situation is I plan on dual-booting with Kubuntu 64-bit, but that's separate from the Vista 64-bit question.

Any significant downsides to using Vista 64-bit?

 

[blackangst1]

Most mainstream stuff works. Unfortunately it will take research on your part to see if drivers are available. And before anyone flames the "old hardware" crap, I have a SCSI setup that is over 13 years old...Vista 64 bit sees it natively. I still have ONE piece of hardware that is critical for me with no 64 bit support (XP or Vista) so Im using 32 bit.

You should be fine though.

edit: as far as the hardware you listed, yes it will work. The question is your peripherals.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
Most mainstream stuff works. Unfortunately it will take research on your part to see if drivers are available. And before anyone flames the "old hardware" crap, I have a SCSI setup that is over 13 years old...Vista 64 bit sees it natively. I still have ONE piece of hardware that is critical for me with no 64 bit support (XP or Vista) so Im using 32 bit.

You should be fine though.

edit: as far as the hardware you listed, yes it will work. The question is your peripherals.

Also what software as well ie any specialized software?...Personally I don't have any issues with my Vista x64(have all drivers etc..) and so far have used and tested the following ,Nero,7,Nero 8,Ashampoo burning studio 7,CCleaner,Firefox,Thunderbird,SpywareBlaster,Spybot,Speedfan,Gainward Expertool1.5,SUPERAntiSpyware,ALZip,ZipGenius,Printmaster 16,Olympus Master 2,uTorrent,Acrobat Reader (Prefer and now use FOXIT Reader),Quicktime,RegCleaner 4.3(free version) to name a few.

Gaming wise I have 50 installed working games(all 32 bit since you know no 16 bit support in Vista x64).

Anyway hope this gives you an idea.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
Most mainstream stuff works. Unfortunately it will take research on your part to see if drivers are available. And before anyone flames the "old hardware" crap, I have a SCSI setup that is over 13 years old...Vista 64 bit sees it natively. I still have ONE piece of hardware that is critical for me with no 64 bit support (XP or Vista) so Im using 32 bit.

You should be fine though.

edit: as far as the hardware you listed, yes it will work. The question is your peripherals.

Yeah, I'm pretty confident about the hardware itself with Vista 64. If I understand correctly, 32-bit apps should have no trouble running under 64, and of course I have to note that Office 2007 is 32-bit but is stated to run fine on Vista 64 Basically, it would be a 64-bit task switcher for 32-bit apps for the near future. I could live with that.

 

[Unicron80]

So, if I understand correctly, in order to use your 64-bit processor, you need a 64-bit OS, and 64-bit drivers for your hardware. After that, you can use either 64- or 32-bit software? Obviously you aren't getting full use of your 64-bits if you're using 32-bit software, but am I right on this? Is it that simple?

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Unicron80
So, if I understand correctly, in order to use your 64-bit processor, you need a 64-bit OS, and 64-bit drivers for your hardware. After that, you can use either 64- or 32-bit software? Obviously you aren't getting full use of your 64-bits if you're using 32-bit software, but am I right on this? Is it that simple?

Yep. But on some things performance will improve due to more headroom in hardware running under 64. Not always, but sometimes. The biggest reason to use 64 bit at this point is memory. anything above 3gb should be using 64 bit.

 

[masteraleph]

Originally posted by: Unicron80
So, if I understand correctly, in order to use your 64-bit processor, you need a 64-bit OS, and 64-bit drivers for your hardware. After that, you can use either 64- or 32-bit software? Obviously you aren't getting full use of your 64-bits if you're using 32-bit software, but am I right on this? Is it that simple?

No. You can use your 64-bit processor perfectly well with a 32 bit OS, 32 bit drivers, and 32 bit software. You can also use it with a 64 bit OS, 64 bit drivers, and 32 or 64 bit software. Using it in the latter case may get you speed increases in a few instances, and, on Windows, will let you take advantage of 4GB of memory.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Yeah, I'm most interested in taking advantage of cheap DDR2 to blow out my new box to 8GB. Incredible. $230 can get you to the level of a supercomputer from 15 years ago. Based on what I'm seeing everywhere, Vista 64 is definitely the choice for me.