Vista 32-bit or 64-bit?

[Tief]

I've noticed that some people have a lot of trouble with Vista, while others have little or no trouble. I am wondering if this difference is related to whether or not people are using 32-bit or 64-bit Vista?

No one, strangely enough, has made the distinction in their posts :) It seems to me a critical piece of information. I don't know what the status is on 64-bit drivers, but I understand that when Vista was released support for them was poor.

Which do you use? Do you know?

Anyone use 64-bit XP?

[rockoon]

I run XP/64 and have had only a few issues with it.

When I first got this baby I couldnt use my favorite firewall (zonealarm) because there was no 64-bit support. I do not know if they support 64-bit yet. The reason this software in particular is picky is because it hooks into the OS at such a low level.

A second issue is that many of Microsofts MSI installer packages refuse to install on XP/64. Officialy, XP/64 isnt a supported OS in Microsofts eyes beyond specific OS patches and the like. There are workarounds for this, such as using universal extractor to get at the innards of an MSI archive.

I have not had issue with ANYTHING else, and that includes the vast assortment of games, compilers, and other junk I have been loading onto it. It should be noted that I am not running any legacy hardware on this box.

I guess there might be issues if I had a printer hooked up that didnt include 64-bit drivers (tho maybe not?) or perhaps a sound card (the onboard sound chip, an AC97, is perfectly fine for me .. and 64-bit drivers came with the motherboard)

[voidx]

The main reason so far is that there hasn't been a huge amount of vendor support for x64 apps. For the vast majority of users there won't be a large increase in performance by going to x64 for most regular apps, and there will certainly be many issues with doing so.

I see more driver support for Vista x64 than I do for XP x64, simply because as rockoon mentions, its only partially supported by MS. In their opinion, you want x64 architechture...use Vista.

I have a client that recently moved all their PC's to XP. About half of these were XP x64. I've had numerous issues, although none of them so far without work-arounds.

Print drivers are not available for many older prints for XP x64. There's a long convoluted work-around to get x32 servers to load x64 print drivers automatically from network print queues.

Anti-virus programs do not by default have x64 bit clients, and many require the latest version before offering them (Symantec). And even then, in many cases, the remote install and automatic updating features of these consoles don't work properly with XP x64 bit causing you to find manual work arounds.

.msi files as rockoon mentions don't work properly. Many of the server side admin tools run through MMC consoles have to be modified manually due to file paths to work properly.

Heh, the list goes on. However, this client does have a specific engineering app that is designed for x64 Windows. And it runs significantly fast on XP x64 than on x 32, all hardware the same.

My assumption is that the over-whelming majority of people with stick with Vista x32 simply to avoid compatibility issues and that seems to be the case so far. x64 will be used where very specific requirements and possible performance enhancements are likely. Which at this point is still the minority of users.

[dudalb]

Question: will 32 Bit programs..OK,I will be honest,games...run with 64 Bit Vista? I still play a lot of older games I am reluctant to give up.

[Tief]

Question: will 32 Bit programs..OK,I will be honest,games...run with 64 Bit Vista? I still play a lot of older games I am reluctant to give up.

Generally, 64-bit Vista is supposed to be backwards compatible with 32-bit apps.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Downsides-of-64-bit-Windows-Vista-55798.shtml

However, particularly for games, it's not recommended at this time.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36100


Before you did go 64-bit Vista, I would check to make sure there are drivers for all your hardware and check with each software manufacturer to make sure your app will run.

I plan on going 64-bit, but not soon. My only drive right now to get Vista is for DX10, there is a game coming out next year (MMO - Age of Conan) that uses DX10. Since Vista in general and DX10 specifically will require me to upgrade my hardware, I won't be budging off Win2k for awhile :)

[hellaeon]

I have xp64, not many issues but I dont usually need help to resolve much on a pc ;)

Seriously, I would go 64 bit if your talking games. The future of games is in 64 bit. Even in XP 64, the patches I have put on a few games (UT 2004, far cry, battlefield 2142) to make then 64 bit makes a difference. All games I installed that did not know anything about 64 bit worked fine.

If you have the chance to do it now, go for it. Within a year, all latest games will have patches and all sorts to run in DX10 and 64 bit windows, its the nature of that industry.

Do a search on the games in question to get more vista info about them

[voidx]

To be honest, if you're looking to go with a x64 OS, I'd just bite the bullet and move to Vista x64.

I say that because I foresee a lot of vendors just passing over creating proper drivers for XP x64 to instead make them for Vista x64.

XP x64 hasn't really caught on very well and my fear would be that once Vista x64 settles in within the next year, driver support, what little there is now, will dry up for XP x64.