Do i need to change from 32bit vista to 64?

Mysterious Stan · Sep 5, 2009

Hello, i just got a new laptop. I was asked to choose to install vista 32 or 64. It said that 32 was compatible with everything whereas 64 only worked with laptops with 4gb ram or more and although my laptop has 4gb just to be safe i went for 32. With my laptop i also got an offer to get windows 7 when it comes out for cheaper. I just wondered if 1) i would need to change to 64bit to be able to get windows 7, 2) if there is any other reason to install vista 64 and 3) if i could change it to 64 if i wanted.

I have windows vista home premium and a toshiba Satellite L500-13V

Thanks

tek101 · Sep 5, 2009

If its new pc ....i'd go for 64 "no mater vista or Wds 7"

Things are changing towards 64 bit now ...

Unless you have to rely on alot of software that only run on 32 bit OS.

BTW ..you should get Wds 7 for "FREE" when it available .....

Most if not all retailers offer free upgrade "Not for cheaper" if you buy pc with vista now.

And yes you can change to 64 bit later cos all new intel cpu are 64 bit construction,

will run on 32 or 64.

Mysterious Stan · Sep 5, 2009

Cool ok, thanks. So when i get windows 7 will i be able to just select to install a 64bit version of that?

Yeh i thought it was free upgrade aswel, but on the website they told me to visit they specify paying for it. Kinda annoyed about it but i think it is cheaper

whs · Sep 5, 2009

4GBs of RAM is borderline. For the time being you are probably better off with 32bit (programs, drivers, etc.). But over time, 64bit will probably become more or less standard.

lemur · Sep 5, 2009

If you need to work with legacy hardware, that would be a reason to choose the 32-bit OS. I have 4 GB on my home pc and Vista 64 runs smoothly. I installed it at work a long time ago and my scanner didn't work (the legacy issue). So go with Vista 64 and join the rest of us. The water's fine!

Barnabas · Sep 5, 2009

lemur said:
If you need to work with legacy hardware, that would be a reason to choose the 32-bit OS. I have 4 GB on my home pc and Vista 64 runs smoothly. I installed it at work a long time ago and my scanner didn't work (the legacy issue). So go with Vista 64 and join the rest of us. The water's fine!

Agree with lemur. I have Vista Home Premium x64 SP2 with smooth sailing. I don't do any games or heavy CPU intensive programs. Its been nice...especially after installing the SP2 update. Windows 7 is reported to be even better but I would go for the 64-bit version if you do. Help is always her for you. :cool:

george14dragon · Sep 7, 2009

Hi,

I bought a new PC a few months ago which came with Windows Vista Home Premium (PC World) and Control Panel System tells me it is a 64 bit operating system.

Some software works right out of the box on my PC, others do not.

For example:
Norton 360 works
PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AV works
Open Office works

MS Office Home and Student 2007 does NOT work
MS Flight Simulator does NOT work (even with many calls to/from the MS FS team in Mumbai.
PC Tools Firewall does NOT work.

Consequently, I'd recommend checking your programs will run on a 64 bit operating system, before taking the plunge.

I'm surprised I've not seen these issues in the PC press. If I'd realised I had the choice of 32 or 64 bit at purchase time, I imagine I'd have gone for 32 bit.

Hope that helps

JMH · Sep 7, 2009

george14dragon said:
Hi,

I bought a new PC a few months ago which came with Windows Vista Home Premium (PC World) and Control Panel System tells me it is a 64 bit operating system.

Some software works right out of the box on my PC, others do not.

For example:
Norton 360 works
PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AV works
Open Office works

MS Office Home and Student 2007 does NOT work
MS Flight Simulator does NOT work (even with many calls to/from the MS FS team in Mumbai.
PC Tools Firewall does NOT work.

Consequently, I'd recommend checking your programs will run on a 64 bit operating system, before taking the plunge.

I'm surprised I've not seen these issues in the PC press. If I'd realised I had the choice of 32 or 64 bit at purchase time, I imagine I'd have gone for 32 bit.

Hope that helps

george14dragon
Correction. MS Office 2007 does work on 64-bit Vista OS.
Note The 2007 Microsoft Office system programs client is a 32-bit application and can run on a Windows 64-bit platform (Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista) but there may be some feature limitations.
Refer link.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101668651033.aspx#4

rasmasyean · Sep 7, 2009

It prolly wants to “recommend” 64-bit for 4GB but it will work with 2 GB, though 64-bit uses more overhead so it’s not as good an idea to do that.

Windows Vista 64-bit links and factoids

32-bit vs. 64-bit Vista comparison table…
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/04/differences-and-advantages-between-32-bit-x86-vs-64-bit-x64-windows-vista/

32-bit means it can only “see” 2^32 (2 to the 32nd power) = 4GB.
The computer has to be able to see the (usable)RAM + VRAM + other devices on Motherboard, etc.
e.g. If you have 1GB VRAM and “other devices” takes up 0.3GB, you will only be able to use a max of 2.7GB (4 - 1 - 0.3 = 2.7) RAM.
In this case, if you install 3GB RAM, you waste 0.3GB…if you install 4GB RAM you waste 1.3GB!

This one's a bit technical, but it describes some of the nitty-gritty of 64-bit technology.
http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2007/10/16/64-bit_more_than_just_the_ram/1

If this is any indication that 64-bit is the wave of the future and 32-bit will be “obsolete”…

(July 30, 2008) There appears to be a shift taking place in the PC industry: the move from 32-bit to 64-bit PCs.
We've been tracking the change by looking at the percentage of 64-bit PCs connecting to Windows Update, and have seen a dramatic increase in recent months. The installed base of 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, as a percentage of all Windows Vista systems, has more than tripled in the U.S. in the last three months, while worldwide adoption has more than doubled during the same period. Another view shows that 20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to Windows Update in June were 64-bit PCs, up from just 3% in March. Put more simply, usage of 64-bit Windows Vista is growing much more rapidly than 32-bit. Based on current trends, this growth will accelerate as the retail channel shifts to supplying a rapidly increasing assortment of 64-bit desktops and laptops… PC Accelerators built into Windows Vista, such as Windows SuperFetch, improve performance by keeping commonly used programs in memory, even when the program is closed. More memory capacity on 64-bit PCs allows SuperFetch to do its job more efficiently.
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/07/30/windows-vista-64-bit-today.aspx

(March 28, 2009) Pudget Systems reveals trend of 64-bit orders overtaking 32-bit orders at an increasing rate.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/blog/2009/03/22/os-trends-over-time-xp-vs-vista-32-bit-vs-64-bit/comment-page-1/#comment-2974

Understanding how SuperFetch uses RAM to enhance system performance…
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=735

Windows Vista - SuperFetch & ReadyBoost
http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/03/29/windows-vista-superfetch-readyboost.aspx

Considering this, SuperFetch is probably the most significant feature that distinguishes Vista from all other OS's for users of all walks. Many other features won't be noticeable or even used by the common person (unless you’re a developer using WPF/WFC like in North Face Kiosks etc., or use many DX10 software). So why not take advantage of it since RAM is so cheap?
For kicks, here’s a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tKj_zscwNE

Consider that many workers like to have, say 20 windows open and do not shut down in order to save time in the morning (even Monday morning), they can now leave 40 windows (or more) open. Also, the more RAM they have, the more stuff can be SuperFetched and Auto Disk Defragmenter and whatever can run more efficiently in the background when AFK too.

For the above scenario, workers will probably “lock” Vista with the S3 sleep more because they can resume in 5 seconds anyway, or it will just auto-sleep after a period…translating to a huge savings on energy consumption.

All these are big bonuses from having a large amount of RAM (which is dirt cheap these days as well as cheaper going forward). Costs associated with driver/equipment upgrade for 64-bit compatibility may be more than made up for in productivity savings by having more RAM.

Gaming…
A May 2009 survey by Valve Corporation indicated that 39.9% of gamers are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 beta (46% of which are 64-bit versions).
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Some interesting hardcore Vista 64-bit info:
...all 64-bit versions of Microsoft operating systems currently impose a 16 TB limit on address space and allow no more than 128 GB of physical memory due to the impracticality of having 16 TB of RAM. Processes created on Windows Vista x64 Edition are allotted 8 TB in virtual memory for user processes and 8 TB for kernel processes to create a virtual memory of 16 TB.
http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5709

Some info on a popular title in 64-bit…

Adobe Photoshop® Extended and Acrobat® Pro natively support 64-bit editions of Windows Vista. Adobe Premiere® Pro, After Effects®, Soundbooth®, Encore®, and Adobe OnLocation™ are certified on 64-bit Windows Vista.
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/systemreqs/

Adobe CS4 is 64-bit only on Vista. OSX have to wait for CS5 or something like that when they catch up.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Adobe_CS4_will_be_64bit_but_only_on_Windows/1207258861

To put things in perspective, this is what 64-bit does...

What are the advantages of 64-bit computing?
In early testing of 64-bit support in Photoshop for Windows®, overall performance gains ranged from 8% to 12%. Those who work with extremely large files may realize noticeably greater gains in performance, in some cases as dramatic as ten times the previous speed. This is because 64-bit applications can address larger amounts of memory and thus result in less file swapping — one of the biggest factors that can affect data processing speed.
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/faq/?promoid=DRHXB

Vista Compatibility Wiki:
http://iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List

Microsoft’s description:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

albird · Sep 9, 2009

I would also go for Vista X64 the only issues I have had with this, is the driver support but it is getting better now and with Win 7 around I am sure lots more folks will be going to 64 bit

rasmasyean · Sep 9, 2009

albird said:
I would also go for Vista X64 the only issues I have had with this, is the driver support but it is getting better now and with Win 7 around I am sure lots more folks will be going to 64 bit

Yo, if your driver doesn’t work, it’s prolly time to upgrade the peripheral yoo!

Do i need to change from 32bit vista to 64?

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