Building a new system Vista 32-bit VS 64-bit
 

Hello, I'm in the process of compiling a list of parts for my new computer, but I'm torn between Vista 32-bit and 64-bit. Usually I build a top of the line system that I don't have to upgrade for a while, which means I'd like to put at LEAST 6-gigs of ram, HOWEVER, Vista 32-bit only works with up to 4-gigs, so it'd be a waste to put in the rest. I guess I could just leave it in there and wait for the next OS to come around.

I know, I know, some people might say to just buy 4 gigs now, then add more later. The reason I'd want it now is so all of the ram would be totally identical.

There is however Vista 64-bit, but they say there's some compatability issues with some older programs. I myself don't really use any older programs, I mainly will use it for gaming and then my webmaster tools like Photoship, WS_FTP Pro, Stats Remote, etc...

I'm leaning towards the 64-bit, but I'd just hate to get it and have it not want to do what I need it to. Any feedback/experience on this ??

You can make more then 3 gbs ram usable and recognizable in 32 bit with a few commands, but you will never see full utilization of it.

Go Windows Vista Ultimate and you will have the option for either out of the box. The other versions typically are sold 32 bit with an option card in the retail pack to send a few bucks to M$ and receive a 64 bit cd. I've done that a few times now.

I used the 64bit version and eventually I chucked it because of lots of incompatibility issues. I swapped the video card 3 times and always had errors spring up. Some of them hung the system completely. Lots of programs wouldn't work.


Microsoft even sent me the 32 bit version for free express mail because they realized the 64 bit people like to talk a lot...

Hahah have fun with Vista :)

Do me a favor and keep track of how much time you'll spend pulling your hair out when something doesn't work or the OS reboots. Enjoy!

You should never be forward looking when it comes to purchasing RAM. The prices drop way to fast. Buy what you need now IMO.


Just so this post is complete...
XP > Vista

All the best with Vista... I've already switched back to XP after 2 years of re-booting on every session.

XP Pro X64.

If you want more than 3Gb of ram usage, then go with 64.

If you are not a 3D artist manipulating and rendering millions of polygons, then you probably won't really see any difference in performance. I barely see the difference...it's only when I throw a ridiculous amount of 3D stuff at my CPUs do I notice a boost in performance.

For everyday tasks, and non graphics related stuff, you won't see a difference, unless what you're doing is sucking lots of Ram.

I'm curious about this too, because I'm thinking of putting Vista 64 on a new computer.

I figured they must have worked out most of the bugs by now?

no idea why so many of you are having an issue with Vista (32 Bit). I'm using with and have never had any issues.

As far as I am aware, Vista 32 can recognise 4GB of RAM ... any higher and you need to go 64 bit.

I run both 32bit and 64bt on almost identical hardware, quad core, 4 gb of RAM.

I highly recommend the 32bit version with 4 gb of RAM , it seems to run faster and with less problems then the 64bit version.

Thanks for all of the posts everyone.

As far as Vista goes, I do love it and don't have any problems with it. My current system is running it just fine since the day it came out :)

Well, maybe to be safe, I'll just stick with the 32-bit version just to be sure that I don't have any problems with it and have headaches dealing with it.

Jesus Christ, that's a good point, maybe I will just stick with the 4 gigs for now and once there is a real need for it, I'll buy it then at probably a lot better price than I'd get it for now.

Go with Vista 64-bit.

What most people don't know about the 4gig ram limit is that it is a total limit. Including any ram on your devices. If your vid card has 1gig of ram then windows is only going to be able to address 3gig of your 4gig of system ram.

I run vista64 on my newer systems and have no issues. You may have an issue finding a driver for an older device, but if you use newer stuff you'll be fine. You can run programs in 32-bit compatibility mode (and XP mode if you need to) so no worries there.

64 bit is the future of computers and apps, its stable enough now to not make sense to build a 32 bit system which will be outdated in a couple years as more and more 64 bit capable apps are released.

Just as clarification, 32-Bit Systems can only access 2^32 different Addresses, that's exactly 4294967296, or 4 Billion, or 4 Giga

With 64-Bit you'll be theoretically able to adress 2^64 Addresses, so that opens enough room for 4 Billion x 4GB, or 16EB (ExaByte) of Memory, which should be enough for a while :)

Well, after thinking about it more, I'm thinking about going 64-bit because I'm planning on putting in 2 Nvidia 280 video cards which have 1-gig of ram each, so the 32-bit version would only use 2-gigs of my 4-gigs.

Now to decide if I want to pay the extra $80 for Ultimate, ha ha.

Go 64bit if your hardware has drivers for it. You might have a bit of software incompatibility but I run XP 64bit and haven't had much. Being able to run 8GB of ram was worth it.

If you play games you will have to stay with 32bit at this point as most games don't run on 64bit.

I guess you mean XP X64 :)

I run Vista 64 and no problems ..

My HTPC is Vista Home Premium for playing HD-DVD/Blu-ray and it's generally been a pleasant experience with 2 gigs of ram. I'd gotten a copy of Vista along with a quadcore/motherboard combo and figured I may as well use it. Vista hasn't been as problematic as people make it seem.

My current desktop runs great on 4 gigs so I haven't felt it's quite time to go 64-bit.

64 bit still to this day is pretty shady.

I run Vista 32bit with 4Gb RAM and I don't play games so I have a shitty video card. I put my money into RAID hard drives. Thats the only big speed difference ;)

also remember, that with 32 bit, and a 4gb setup, ur using like 3.3 or so of the ram really with over head.

and your video card ram counts to the 4gb setup when it comes to gaming and addressing things. if you have 4gb ram and 1gb video ram, one of those two isn't going to be used to the max.

go with 64bit or buy a mac and start gaming on xbox like real men =p

i use both xp and vista and i still think xp > vista