Vista - 64-bit: More than just the RAM

Excellent topic...i do CAD Design and 64 bit makes a huge difference compared to just the RAM. I have a Dell Precision with dual quad core Xeon CPUs on a XP 32 bit Pro and my Vista 64 bit laptop blows it out of the water hands down.

64 bit computing is by far the future and sooner people start to notice that the further it will advance.

I remember when i bought this lap top it says on the box lap top comes with 4GB ram but 1GB will be used up by the OS it does not mention because its a 32bit system that it wont be able to use all 4GB, i would of thought they would mention thats why to get people to upgrade to 64bit system. it came with home premiume but i upgraded to 64bit ultimate now, is much better.

Here's a account of a big system builder...


OS Trends Over Time: XP vs. Vista, 32-bit vs. 64-bit | Puget Systems Blog

The unpleasant surprise, as I'm finding out now, is you may end up with a PC that's nearly impossible to restore via backup imaging. See my specs. The "Raid Ready" controller requires a 64 bit Windows driver. Linux-based rescue CD that comes with my image backup software don't cut it. A small restore that would take 45 minutes on my 32 bit non-Raid Ready PC is an overnight job on this one.

edit: (deleted some pissing and moaning. Just frustrating when standard techniques, like splitting off a partition and installing another OS I can boot and do the restore from there, don't work so easily.)

edit2: If you happen to own the same PC as mine with Raid Ready then just FYI Macrium Reflect paid version works. The Linux Rescue CD accesses my HD with no special settings. The Linux Rescue CD in the free version won't cut it. The paid has a newer Linux CD version. Also I think they changed the image backup format so that clever people won't use the trial version to burn the Rescue CD, then the free version to do backups.

But it's worth $40 to me to do a restore in 90 minutes instead of 9 hours!!
All these things have mucho hardware dependencies, so if you can, download
a trial, burn the Rescue CD and boot it. See if it shows your HD before you buy or rely on the backup program.

A month ago I converted from Vista Home Premium x32, to the x64 of the same edition
I used the same keycode, and it's still worked, fully genuine!

A lot of Emulators (Dolphin being one) have a huge advantage when you are using a 64-bit OS because the game systems themselves run 64-bit...emulating a 64-bit system on a 32-bit OS is harder on the CPU than running the same, but 64-bit version of that emulator on a 64-bit OS. The emulator doesn't have to convert it to 32-bit, thus better emulation!

One other point I want to make is that now-a-days a lot of people are converting to x64, it's like a new perfect religion!

Most companies now supply full support for x64 drivers and such, and even freeware programs are now supporting x64. I personally have found a x64 driver for everything on my computer, no problem!

Im gonna be way off topic here to some degree. But Why cant i find a 64 bit PS3 Controller driver

Wow, that's great news. I was going to reinstall my older Vista x86 pretty soon, it would be great to go to x64 (I have a x64 install disc for my newer system).

Have you heard of other people reporting the same results? You'd think that business-wise, Microsoft wouldn't care as long there are two paid keycodes being used on two different systems, but who knows?

So here is the thing. I had Vista Home Premium 32bit on my lapto and I have installed Vista Home Premium 64bit using the same serial key. I have tried to install Vista Ultimate, both 32bit and 64bit using this key, but it didn't activate. So, as long as it is the same version of OS, Home Premium 32bit or Home Premium 64bit, Microsoft allows you to use the same serial key.
So if you want to install 64bit OS, go ahead, it will work perfectly, as long as it is the version of OS.

So what's wrong with orange shag carpeting? heh.

Awesome read. I'm running Vista Ultimate x64 on brand new hardware and I never had a single problem w/ drivers except for the Creative Game Port. I'm still using my old sound card (Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Professional-I happen to like DTS and THX) on a new Asus P6T Deluxe V.2 w/ a Core i7 965 Extreme. I only have 6gb of Corsair Dominator RAM and it's at 1600 which is a waste because I haven't OC'ed anything yet and it doesn't utilize all 1600 mhz, but the point is all hardware had 64bit drivers available except for the game port, (which I don't use anyway).

Everything runs great and the only thing I have problems with is Internet Exploder 8 crashes every day. Adobe Photoshop CS4 x64 is nice and is wicked fast, but none of my plugins work with it, leaving me to use the 32bit version included in Creative Suite Master Collection. I'm sure it's a problem with the plugin company developers being slow to make their products 64bit.

So, it's going to die a long, slow death? Well I guess we should all just go back to 8-bit DOS 3.2 or maybe Windows 3.1

I remember the same thing when we all went from 16-bit to 32-bit.
When we went from FAT16 to FAT32.

No, I will stick with 64 bit. Looking ahead to 128-bit systems!!!