Is 64-bit worth it?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

ascarytiger

Member
May 30, 2005
112
0
0
I have Windows Ultimate, with both 32 and 64 bit. I'm vbuilding a brand new system as we speak, and I would really like to go to 64 bit, but is it worth it? Or will it be worth it soon? What would the pros and cons of 64bit Ultimate be. Here are what my new system specs will be:

C2D E6300 @3.0GHz
eVGA 680i mobo
8800GTS 640mb
2GB OCZ DDR2 PC 8500
WD Raptor X HDD
Antec 650W PSU
Antec 900 case

Cheers
 
D

drag

Elite Member
Jul 4, 2002
8,708
0
0
It's worth it if you have over 3 gigs of ram.

Otherwise it's pretty pointless.
 
gruven

gruven

Member
Jan 6, 2003
39
0
0
I am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit on my C2D on my laptop with 2 GB or Ram. It is noticeably faster and a lot snappier when doing normal things. Windows open quicker, things load faster, etc...

Drivers so far haven't been bad, and I am not missing anything in 64 bit that I wasn't missing in 32 bit.

I had both the 32 bit and 64 bit installed and compared between the two.

Gentoo 64 bit also ran faster than Gentoo 32 bit on this laptop.
 
Mem

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
All I can really say is I'm very happy with my Vista x64,have all possible drivers and no problems with my games or my software.
 
lopri

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
126
Been running 64-bit also. I now wish I had 8GB of RAM.
 
N

nZone

Senior member
Jan 29, 2007
277
0
0
I think there is some feature in the Media Center only supports 64-bit.
 
imported_eppenoire

imported_eppenoire

Member
Jan 6, 2005
35
1
71
I have been running Vista 64 for a while now and havn't experienced any problems that I didn't also experience in 32 bit. Compatibility mode is your friend with certain applications, but for the most part I am pretty happy.

I mostly do software development and IT management, which means I run a lot virtual machines, for this 64bit has a huge advantage. I am waiting for more programs to support 64 bit, but then again I am also been waiting for more programs to support Vista. As mentioned previously all drivers that are MS Certified have to be both 64 and 32 bit compliant, I don't know how this will translate in the application development world, but myself and many of my associates are already developing software on 64bit platforms.
 
N

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
Is there any disk imaging software that can create an image of a 64-bit Vista install?
I asked Acronis and the reply was that their True Image 10 was not compatible with the 64-bit version!

Edit:
I have to say my second sentence is not true!
The reply I had from Acronis was with respect to a different question!

I have just posed to them the question about compatibility of True Image 10 with the 64-bit version of Vista, and I will post the response as soon as I get it.
 
Nothinman

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
0
Is there any disk imaging software that can create an image of a 64-bit Vista install?
Click to expand...

Any that doesn't run inside of Windows should work fine, the filesystem itself is exactly the same as NTFS in XP.
 
imported_eppenoire

imported_eppenoire

Member
Jan 6, 2005
35
1
71
has anyone tried gaming on the 64bit platform?
Click to expand...
I have been running Oblivion in 64 bit and it appears to run more smoothly than in 32 bit, obviously that is a subjective comparison. I can honestly say that either one is faster the XP 64 bit, which I didn't expect. Firingsquad did an article on on this topic here.
 
N

nZone

Senior member
Jan 29, 2007
277
0
0
Originally posted by: Navid
Is there any disk imaging software that can create an image of a 64-bit Vista install?
I asked Acronis and the reply was that their True Image 10 was not compatible with the 64-bit version!

Edit:
I have to say my second sentence is not true!
The reply I had from Acronis was with respect to a different question!

I have just posed to them the question about compatibility of True Image 10 with the 64-bit version of Vista, and I will post the response as soon as I get it.
Click to expand...

If you're running Vista Ultimate; the built-in image backup is as good as Acronis. It is better support for the Optical drive too.
 
B

bsobel

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Dec 9, 2001
13,346
0
0
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Is there any disk imaging software that can create an image of a 64-bit Vista install?
Click to expand...

Any that doesn't run inside of Windows should work fine, the filesystem itself is exactly the same as NTFS in XP.
Click to expand...

Many of the 'in windows' imaging packages include drivers, those need to be 64bit...
 
N

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
Originally posted by: nZone
If you're running Vista Ultimate; the built-in image backup is as good as Acronis. It is better support for the Optical drive too.
Click to expand...

That is true for many.

The built-in imaging utility does not let you save the image to any folder you want. Neither does it let you name it what you want.
So, if you create multiple images, they will all be placed in the same folder (I am talking about saving the images on a second hard drive).
I restored an image created by Vista onto a different primary partition and it did not function gracefully and damaged a logical partition on the same drive.

I create multiple images for a set of hardware components. I create another set of images for another set of hardware components. I like to have the flexibility to place these images where I want and name them accordingly so that I can organize them and find them later easily.

These can all be done with True Image with no side effects.
Not everybody may need the flexibility that Acronis offers. But, I do.
 
H

hennessy1

Golden Member
Mar 18, 2007
1,901
5
91
IF you have more then 4gn of ram then yes if not then it doesn't really matter you won't be using the real potential of it.
 
M

mgutz

Member
Mar 1, 2007
123
0
0
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Is there any disk imaging software that can create an image of a 64-bit Vista install?
Click to expand...

Any that doesn't run inside of Windows should work fine, the filesystem itself is exactly the same as NTFS in XP.
Click to expand...

I transferred Vista x64 from a small WD HDD to a 500GB Samsung drive. I used the latest Acronis True Image Home. I had to reactivate Vista. The only problem I had was all my restore points were screwed up, they're tied to the old drive somehow. Make sure you create a new restore point if you use this feature. Acronis runs from a CD (wouldn't do it any other way).
 
cmdrdredd

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: ascarytiger
has anyone tried gaming on the 64bit platform?
Click to expand...

Yes and Half-Life 2 actually runs in 64-bit mode. Other games like Doom3, Quake4, F.E.A.R, Oblivion etc run as they did on XP. They're still playable and haven't lost any noticable fps. If you timedemo Doom or Quake4 you may see some loss because of the poor OpenGL Implimentation (MS wants to push DirectX so the OpenGL needs some work).
 
P

PepperBreath

Senior member
Sep 5, 2001
469
0
0
So many people seem to say that 64-bit *seems* faster, or that aside from 4gb+ RAM, it's not worth it. It all seems subjective (more the 64-bit supporters than anything else). Has any website actually done benchmarks on the issue? I'd trust a more objective approach rather than people just reporting their impressions.

I mean, I've ran both XP 32-bit and 64-bit, and 32/64 flavors of Vista. I never noticed a difference, aside from the fact that XP 64 was a pain in the butt and wasn't worth the trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom