Vista - 32bit vs 64bit

Hi

Just getting ready to setup my new Vista machine, but I'm a bit uncertain
about if I'm going for 32bit or 64bit. I actually have access to both
versions. I've heard that there are issues with 64 bit, such as antivirus,
games and so on. Are there actually any real benefits for 64bit at the
moment, besides support for more memory.
I'm very happy for arguments for both options.

/A.

"Andy" <andy@blocker.com> wrote in message
news:74E40EA9-1522-4EC0-9C23-039D528D89F3@microsoft.com...
> Hi
>
> Just getting ready to setup my new Vista machine, but I'm a bit uncertain
> about if I'm going for 32bit or 64bit. I actually have access to both
> versions. I've heard that there are issues with 64 bit, such as antivirus,
> games and so on. Are there actually any real benefits for 64bit at the
> moment, besides support for more memory.
> I'm very happy for arguments for both options.
>
> /A.
>
>
>
Pay your money and take your choice. You need 64bit motherboard, processor
and 2gb Ram to make the 64 worth while of course.



--
Ian

Yes, there are issues. What you have heard is correct. Unless you have to
run mission critical 64bit apps requiring greater than 4gb, you are best to
stay with the 32bit OS..


"Andy" <andy@blocker.com> wrote in message
news:74E40EA9-1522-4EC0-9C23-039D528D89F3@microsoft.com...
> Hi
>
> Just getting ready to setup my new Vista machine, but I'm a bit uncertain
> about if I'm going for 32bit or 64bit. I actually have access to both
> versions. I've heard that there are issues with 64 bit, such as antivirus,
> games and so on. Are there actually any real benefits for 64bit at the
> moment, besides support for more memory.
> I'm very happy for arguments for both options.
>
> /A.
>
>

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

On Fri, 3 Aug 2007 15:47:56 +0200, "Andy" <andy@blocker.com> wrote:

>Hi
>
>Just getting ready to setup my new Vista machine, but I'm a bit uncertain
>about if I'm going for 32bit or 64bit. I actually have access to both
>versions. I've heard that there are issues with 64 bit, such as antivirus,
>games and so on. Are there actually any real benefits for 64bit at the
>moment, besides support for more memory.
>I'm very happy for arguments for both options.
>
>/A.
>
The only advantage to using 64 bit at THIS TIME is if you have both
the hardware and it's drivers plus software that actually take
advantage of it. For most people that isn't a reality...yet.

A pretty good analogy would be if you could, buying a hydrogen
car now. Likely it would stay in your garage since there are few
places to buy hydrogen fuel. A good idea and the future, but too
early. Ditto for 64 bit.

"Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:e2STpcd1HHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Yes, there are issues. What you have heard is correct. Unless you have to
> run mission critical 64bit apps requiring greater than 4gb, you are best
> to stay with the 32bit OS..

I'm running Vista64 and AVG antivirus works fine and so do the games I have
installed so far. I have 4gb of ram and want the OS to have full access to
it.

Noddy

This is part of a new finding.. I would give the rest, but the server on
which the information resides appears to be down temporarily..

"Anti virus software for the 64-bit version of Windows Vista is struggling
to properly protect the operating system, according to a new test by the
Virus Bulletin security certification body. Of the 20 anti-virus product
tested, 35 per cent failed to meet the test's criteria. Six of the failing
grades were caused by so called false positives, legitimate files that are
incorrectly flagged as malware."

The OS may well take full advantage of 4gb, but do the games?


"Noddy" <SPAM@BLOCKER.ACTIVE> wrote in message
news:xZHsi.39038$JO6.15513@fe02.news.easynews.com...
> "Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:e2STpcd1HHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Yes, there are issues. What you have heard is correct. Unless you have to
>> run mission critical 64bit apps requiring greater than 4gb, you are best
>> to stay with the 32bit OS..
>
> I'm running Vista64 and AVG antivirus works fine and so do the games I
> have installed so far. I have 4gb of ram and want the OS to have full
> access to it.

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

"> Pay your money and take your choice. You need 64bit motherboard,
processor
> and 2gb Ram to make the 64 worth while of course.
>
Hi

The new machine is a Core 2 Quad CPU (Q6600) with a motherboard supporting
it so it will support 64 bit just fine, but since there will (at the current
time) be issues with appliactions and AV software with 64 bit OS I might as
well continue with 32 bit. My main applications are visualstudio (32 bit)
Vmware (32 bit) and some games. As long as I only have 2gb ram the limit of
ram that the OS can adresse is well within the boundries of my setup.

/A.

On Fri, 3 Aug 2007 15:00:22 +0100, "Ian Betts" <igb123@talktalk.net>
wrote:

>
>
> "Andy" <andy@blocker.com> wrote in message
> news:74E40EA9-1522-4EC0-9C23-039D528D89F3@microsoft.com...
> > Hi
> >
> > Just getting ready to setup my new Vista machine, but I'm a bit uncertain
> > about if I'm going for 32bit or 64bit. I actually have access to both
> > versions. I've heard that there are issues with 64 bit, such as antivirus,
> > games and so on. Are there actually any real benefits for 64bit at the
> > moment, besides support for more memory.
> > I'm very happy for arguments for both options.
> >
> > /A.
> >
> >
> >
> Pay your money and take your choice. You need 64bit motherboard, processor
> and 2gb Ram to make the 64 worth while of course.


Over and above what hardware you have, you need 64-bit drivers for all
your hardware (and there are many cases where the drivers aren't
available) to make it work at all.

Then, to make it worthwhile, you need 64-bit applications, of which
there are presently very few. Without the 64-bit applications, any
performance improvement will be so small as to be almost unnoticeable.

A few years from now, almost everybody will be running 64-bit Windows.
But for the present, it's a rare person for whom it makes sense, even
if you have the hardware to support it.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

If you're doing VMWare, I suggest going with 64 bit. That is the main reason
I built my new dual quad-core Xeon PC that I run Vista Ultimate X64 on.

Virtual PC hosts, either from Microsoft tools or VMWare tools, require a lot
of memory. My 8GB, so far, allow me to run as many as a dozen or more
virtual PC/Servers at the same time - and I still have 4 empty memory slots
for another 8GB when I need it.

I do have some problems with games, though. I am not a big gamer but I do
like strategy games like Age of Empires, etc. The only game I have tried to
install on my Vista X64 is Age of Empires II and it will not complete the
install.

If you're like me, though, you probably have more than one PC anyway so I
play Age of Empires II on my Core 2 Duo Vista X86 box. But writing this post
gave me the idea to try Age of Empires on a virtual PC running XP Pro.

Dale
--
Dale Preston
MCAD C#
MCSE, MCDBA


"Andy" wrote:

>
> "> Pay your money and take your choice. You need 64bit motherboard,
> processor
> > and 2gb Ram to make the 64 worth while of course.
> >
> Hi
>
> The new machine is a Core 2 Quad CPU (Q6600) with a motherboard supporting
> it so it will support 64 bit just fine, but since there will (at the current
> time) be issues with appliactions and AV software with 64 bit OS I might as
> well continue with 32 bit. My main applications are visualstudio (32 bit)
> Vmware (32 bit) and some games. As long as I only have 2gb ram the limit of
> ram that the OS can adresse is well within the boundries of my setup.
>
> /A.
>

I didn't have any problem at all with 64-bit drivers for my hardware. With
the exception of Creative Labs, most well-known hardware vendors are
providing working 64-bit Vista drivers for their current hardware.

And I haven't had any problem at all with any of my productivity software;
only with my productivitiy-killer software.


--
Dale Preston
MCAD C#
MCSE, MCDBA


"Adam Albright" wrote:

> On Fri, 3 Aug 2007 15:47:56 +0200, "Andy" <andy@blocker.com> wrote:
>
> >Hi
> >
> >Just getting ready to setup my new Vista machine, but I'm a bit uncertain
> >about if I'm going for 32bit or 64bit. I actually have access to both
> >versions. I've heard that there are issues with 64 bit, such as antivirus,
> >games and so on. Are there actually any real benefits for 64bit at the
> >moment, besides support for more memory.
> >I'm very happy for arguments for both options.
> >
> >/A.
> >
> The only advantage to using 64 bit at THIS TIME is if you have both
> the hardware and it's drivers plus software that actually take
> advantage of it. For most people that isn't a reality...yet.
>
> A pretty good analogy would be if you could, buying a hydrogen
> car now. Likely it would stay in your garage since there are few
> places to buy hydrogen fuel. A good idea and the future, but too
> early. Ditto for 64 bit.
>
>