Vista 64 vs Vista 32?

[Kooldino]

So I have a 64 bit system. I'll eventually go Vista. Do I want Vista 23 bit or 64 bit?

Here's some pros and cons I could think of, please add to the list.

64 bit over 32 bit PROS:
-Increased performance(?)



64 bit over 32 bit CONS:
-Shoddy driver support

[Jammrock]

64-bit does is allows software to address larger quantities of memory and larger CPU registers, and thus larger and more complex intruction sets. But as of right now there is not a big, if any, performance increase at the desktop level (server and high workstation is different).

This will/should change in the near future as MS is trying to get everyone in line with a 64-bit world. Pushing OEMs to produce 64-bit systems and 64-bit Vista. Once the install base gets larger the coding should be more common, which makes it more efficient and should eventually be markedly faster. It just isn't, in most cases, that way right now.

Reasons to go with 64-bit:

- Greater than 2 GB RAM now, or in the near future (4 GB seems to be the optimal amount for Vista, with 2 GB being the sweetspot).
- You are banking on 64-bit to become more popular by the time you buy a new system or OS.
- You just like having the latest and greatest.

To stay on 32-bit:

-Known good stability and widely available drivers and software.

So far 64-bit drivers are fairly common among OEM components. Every driver download I've seen from major players hasve 64-bit drivers, so that's not too big of an issue. Unless you have an nvidia video card, in which case you can join the class action lawsuit.

[schmosef]

What i felt from playing with XP Pro 64bit was that the system seemed to handle heavy multitasking better. not sure it that's because of the OS itself or simply because it could use all 4GB of RAM I had installed at the time.

What I've done is install Vista 64 in Dual boot with XP 32bit. Everything works in XP and I can gradually migrate to Vista at my own pace.

[Kooldino]

What i felt from playing with XP Pro 64bit was that the system seemed to handle heavy multitasking better. not sure it that's because of the OS itself or simply because it could use all 4GB of RAM I had installed at the time.

What I've done is install Vista 64 in Dual boot with XP 32bit. Everything works in XP and I can gradually migrate to Vista at my own pace.

Not a bad idea, but I'd have to buy both copies of Windows to accomplish that, yes?

[schmosef]

yep

[Gurm]

Even 64-bit server OS'es aren't ready for primetime, at least not at the moderate enterprise level.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Too bad Commodore went out of business before MS could buy them out and learn the secret techonology to make an OS work the same on systems with either 24 or 32 bit addresses.

[Dr Mordrid]

AMEN!

That and learn how to make a multitasking GUI OS work with a 7mhz CPU, 512k ROM, <1 meg of system files and 1 meg of system RAM.

[schmosef]

I just picked up a copy of "On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore".

Should make for a good read.

[Umfriend]

Uhm, IIRC, the 68000 already had 32-bit memory addressing, just 24 actual pins going outside. So the migration to 68020, 030 and 040 was easy.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Uhm, IIRC, the 68000 already had 32-bit memory addressing, just 24 actual pins going outside. So the migration to 68020, 030 and 040 was easy.

Yep, I wasn't being entirely serious, thus the "". Still, there's no reason why 32 bit drivers can't run under a 64 bit OS on a x86-64 processor, that's just a software limitation with XP.

[spadnos]

Yep, I wasn't being entirely serious, thus the "". Still, there's no reason why 32 bit drivers can't run under a 64 bit OS on a x86-64 processor, that's just a software limitation with XP.

Actually, it's a pretty tough software limitation, I think. People often forget that although the 64-bit CPUs can execute 32-bit code, the register set (and thus the ideal calling convention) is different when in 64-bit mode. Remember back to the days of 16/32-bit code "thunking" - where there were short routines that basically just rearranged parameters and return values? (and took care of some address issues ...)

Using 32-bit drivers can be difficult, especially for hardware drivers that live in the processor I/O or memory spaces (like anything PCI, PCIe, AGP, ISA ...).

I don't know all the details of making 32-bit drivers work in 64-bit mode, but I know enough to know that it's not easy (at least, not in all cases).

- Steve

[Tom]

I know enough to know that it's not easy (at least, not in all cases).
- Steve

I was unable to get any of my older devices to work in Windows XP x64 Edition or Windows Vista RC1 64 bit. I couldn't find any 64 bit drivers and couldn't force the 32 bit drivers that I had. "Digitally signed" driver requirements are even more of a challenge.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I was going by the Wiki x86-64 article, specifically the AMD64 stuff.

[Kooldino]

btw, is there some master 64 bit compatibility list or something?