Vista Ultimate 64 bit

[wannabenerd]

Hello everyone! Hopefully I'm in the right forum.

I have been researching and learning as much as I can about 64 bit systems and my conclusion is to to simply ask the experts.

My question is, should I use Vista Ultimate 64 or 32 bit? I'm upgrading from Windows XP Home Edition. This will be a big investment for me. My current system specs are...

Q6600
4 GB DRR2 800
8800GT
SoundBlaster-XiFi

I would like to take advantage of better computing, simply put, but I'm having trouble seperating truth from myth, ex: better graphics and a large performance increase. I do a lot of gaming and web browsing, and I play a lot of the newer generation games (Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, Crysis, etc.).

If anyone can reference an article that would point me in the right direction, that would be much appreciated as well!

Thanks!

 

[bruce2]

Welcome to the board,
My computer was built for very much the same purpose as yours.
I see you have 4 Gb of ram; you must have been using xp 64bits. Simularly, if you like to address all those rams plus your vedio rams, 64 bit is the way to go. Of course 4G of ram is better then 2G for graphic and other processing. I had some driver problem before sp1 like my sound card, but now I don't have any problem for a while. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello wannabenerd, welcome to Vista forums!

Have a look at this article, at the link below. To read the whole article click on the link in the thread.

64-bit is the way to go!

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-news/99613-64-bit-more-than-just-ram.html

Keep us informed!








Later Ted

 

[wannabenerd]

Hey, thanks for welcoming me to the forums.

As a matter of fact, I was using Windows XP 32 Bit. To be honest, I've never known about 64 bit until this past month lol.

I will check out that article though.

 

[wannabenerd]

Well I think that settles it! I read the article and I think I'm gonna try 64 bit! It was very helpful and informative.

3 Questions

1.) Does Windows Vista Ultimate come with the ability to choose between 32 and 64? I'm guessing no when I check newegg and certain places and they're offering 2 versions, but I thought I'd double check here.

2.) What kind of performance gain have you guys had (or others that you know) using x64 with games, browsing, etc. A 25% increase? Or maybe even 50%?

3.) Should I upgrade to 8 gigs of RAM if I use x64? (I'm using 4 gigs at 800mhz currently).

 

[Dwarf]

Hi wannabenerd and welcome to Vista Forums

The retail versions of Vista Ultimate, both the upgrade and full versions, come with BOTH 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the OS on separate discs. They are now available with SP1 already integrated. Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your motherboard (burn these onto a CD for ease of use). As regards the memory, check with the motherboard manual for details on how much is supported and at what speed.

 

[fieseler]

The only game atm that will see any performance gain is Crysis & it runs better on 64 than 32 because it uses a native 64bit executer (.exe)

there is a small increase in fps & just feels a lot smoother.

 

[Sentar]

Re: Vista Ultimate 64 bit here is my findings...

I have just purchased a new system and VISTA Ult 64bit after doing the following research....

1) Researched system and opted for a custom built system wiht a 64 bit CPU (INTEL Core 2 DUO 3.16Ghz) and a ASUS P4Q Deluxe motherboard 8Gb Corsair matched RAM. along with drives and Cd's.
2) Took into account my existing aplications and would they run on a 64 bit system and what I would have to purchase, had to replace 3.
3) My Pherpherials (Printers/Scanners/Camera's/WEB CAM) I think you get the idea, I had to replace 1 x Printer, WEB CAM.
4) Downloaded the drivers for those Pherpherials that would work in the 64bit envoriment.

All went well (well almost I have had to reinstall VISTA 3 times until I got my HDD's and RAID configured as I wanted them.

I am most happy with the result cost (NZ$38

Hi GureMediation,

It sounds as though you needed to supply RAID drivers when you were installing Vista. What is the make and model of your motherboard?

My motherboard is a gigabyte GA-X48-DS5. I did install the raid driver during the vista installation. My problem is I had raid enabled in the bios but I didn't set up the arrray. Now I want to know if there is any way to set it up now with vista already installed.

If Vista was installed with your controller set to RAID, and you switched it over to AHCI, then that'll kill the Vista installation. Likewise if it was set to AHCI and you change it to RAID or IDE after Vista is installed.

You can read more about AHCI here : Advanced Host Controller Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Set the controller back to RAID and you should be able to recover Vista without missing a beat.

Are you planning on using a RAID setup for you boot device? If that is the case, then you should have setup your raid array before installing windows.

If you want to keep your boot drive seperate from the raid array (use raid for data only), then you should be able to safely create the raid array now.

Thanks,
My bios was set to raid but I didn't set up the array. Yeah, it does work when I set it back to raid. I was wondering if there was a way to set up the raid array now with vista already installed or do I need to reinstall?

And if I have to reainstall what do I do about having already activated vista?

00.00) and cannot see how anyone would want to cripple a 64bit configuration with a 32bit O/S.

 

[joel406]

Congratulations to wannabenerd and Sentar. You did everything rught. Considerd every possible senario and planned accordingly.

I aplaude you both.

Wannabe your system is great, I did practically the same thing just changed the video card to a 9800GT Ultimate from Asus. Same specs as the GTX+ but significantly more cost effective(cheaper).

Again congrats and happy gaming.

 

[wannabenerd]

Well folks, I just bought Vista Ultimate Retail on Amazon for $90! I will be installing the 64 bit when I'm ready. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Boy am I ready for smooooooother gaming!

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again!

I'm pleased you've found answers here at the forums.

Keep us informed!













Later Ted