Vista 64 - Should I?

[biosc1]

Okay...so I'm having display options...and I've decided to do a complete reinstall.

Now, while downloading a new copy of Vista (yes, I have an MSDN license), I'm debating between 32-bit and 64-bit.

Any real disadvantage these days of going 64-bit? I do play a lot of games, but mostly new ones...have an onboard sound card and and 8800GT video card...mostly all new stuff. Shouldn't be much of an issue, right?

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[Ancalagon]

You should be fine with Vista 64.

[mesh]

My gaming rig has been under vista x64 for over a year, no problem there except a few missing drivers for understandably unsupported no-name products like my ps2 controller adapter by 'sector 7' from circuit city. Performance is on par with xp no matter what critics that haven't even used vista say. Might even be a bit better in terms of power saving while you idle. And if it seems like vista uses more ressources, it does, but that's because it's a lot better at caching files you've recently used.

[biosc1]

My gaming rig has been under vista x64 for over a year, no problem there except a few missing drivers for understandably unsupported no-name products like my ps2 controller adapter by 'sector 7' from circuit city. Performance is on par with xp no matter what critics that haven't even used vista say. Might even be a bit better in terms of power saving while you idle. And if it seems like vista uses more ressources, it does, but that's because it's a lot better at caching files you've recently used.

Oh, I'm a huge Vista fan. I've been running Vista since the beta and I could never go back to XP. Was just curious whether 64-bit had any nagging issues still. May as well use my processor to it's full advantage, right?

[Slack3r78]

Are you tied down to a lot of 16 bit legacy apps?

No?

Go 64 bit.

[KingGorilla]

The reason I tend to steer folks away from V64, is the same reason people should have steered away from Vista prior to SP1, period: the support just is not there. Driver support, even from my beloved Omega, is lagging behind. All software is still optimized to run in a 32 bit OS. If you can buy a package with both 32 and 64 bit in it, I say go for that and keep the V64 for when more support and programs come for it.

The problems are not any one thing that a finger can be placed on, but I see a trend of more weird, odd, compatibility issues coming from V64 in most web communities. Things like device driver conflicts. A good one is that putting in a Wireless 360 dongle, has been shown to cause wireless LG products to not function together.

[Schnoogs]

Are you tied down to a lot of 16 bit legacy apps?

No?

Go 64 bit.

Vista 64 will still be able to handle that

[Harv]

Been using Vista 64 for many months now, at least since January or so and it has not had any problems running any game I've tried on it. I've run Company of Heroes, World in Conflict, Crysis, Supreme Commander, Starcraft, Fallout, Fallout 2. No problems with any of them.

No driver issues for me on Vista 64 either, but I do have a new machine.

The one problem I have had with 64 is that my companies VPN client doesn't like working with it.

[Sonic Alpha]

My new gaming rig that I'm putting together will be running Vista 64, just waiting for my parts (and Vista) to arrive, lol.

I hope it's not a nightmare :(

[GigaFuzz]

I've been using Vista 64 full-time for say a month now (after using Vista 32 since betas) and I've not had any problems.

[Reverant]

As long as you're hardware is newer, it's fine. I've been running Vista 64 bit for about six months, and it's pretty awesome on my rig. (e8400, 4 gigs of ram, 8800gt).

On a related note, I bought a laptop with vista installed, but it was so sluggish I formatted and installed XP. Vista's nice, but it will ruin a decent older machine.

[biosc1]

I've decided to dual boot. Beat of both worlds. I'll try and live my life mainly in 64-bit.

[Slack3r78]

Vista 64 will still be able to handle that
Only via emulation. Microsoft dropped the 16 bit subsystem from Vista x64.

[KingGorilla]

Any of you V64 users try the classic offerings at Good Old Games?

[Grifter]

I have been running Vista 64 on my gaming rig for about a year and a half now and I have yet to have any issues. The oldest game I have tried to play is Fallout 2 and it ran fine.

[Crittias]

Any of you V64 users try the classic offerings at Good Old Games?Yes. Fallout & Fallout 2 with no issues whatsoever.

[pheriannath]

You should be fine with Vista64, but I know from experience this weekend that Command and Conquer 3 doesn't run on it.

Just do your research and you'll be good to go.

[KingGorilla]

No C and C 3? OK, changed my mind, they are not bugs. Vista 64 is protecting you from crappy games.

Ninja Edit, do not look at my X-fire profile, I often play 40-50 hours of games that I hate.

[Slack3r78]

Yes. Fallout & Fallout 2 with no issues whatsoever.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto works just fine, as well.

[Karnov]

Just a warning if you use Gametap, they do no not support any 64-bit OS.

I found that out the hard way.

[Goronmon]

Been running Vista 64 for over a year now. Other than some minor driver problems when I first started with it, haven't had any issues at all for a while.

[Harv]

You should be fine with Vista64, but I know from experience this weekend that Command and Conquer 3 doesn't run on it.

It isn't even out yet.

[Ancalagon]

It isn't even out yet.

Red Alert 3 isnt out yet, he might mean vanilla C&C though.

[Harv]

Red Alert 3 isnt out yet, he might mean vanilla C&C though.

Ah. Well, considering that just about every other game out there runs on Vista 64 I would think they would get their act together and get it working.

[Schnoogs]

Only via emulation. Microsoft dropped the 16 bit subsystem from Vista x64.

Well yeah...but from the users perspective there's no difference. I routinely run OLD apps.

[Ox]

Been using Vista 64 for many months now, at least since January or so and it has not had any problems running any game I've tried on it. I've run Company of Heroes, World in Conflict, Crysis, Supreme Commander, Starcraft, Fallout, Fallout 2. No problems with any of them.
Uhhh... once you get Fallout 2 installed properly, there are no problems. I actually tried installing Fallout 2 this weekend, and the exe for the official patch refused to run. It was a PITA working around it (although I presume I was a moron and there was a simple solution).

I agree V64 is perfectly fine for a gaming machine, and there are a lot fewer compatibility problems than I expected. Mainly problems arise with older DRM, and even that's unusual. Go for it.

[Sonic Alpha]

You should be fine with Vista64, but I know from experience this weekend that Command and Conquer 3 doesn't run on it.

Just do your research and you'll be good to go.

Actually, it runs fine but only if you patch it to the current version first (as does The First Decade).

It was the first game I installed after completing my upgrade ;)

[Schnoogs]

I have one good reason NOT to use Vista 64....fucking 64 bit pointers. My HW took a major performance hit because memory pointers on it are no longer 32 bit. The memory footprint of my application basically doubled in size and my optimization results sucked.

God I need more memory!!!

[biosc1]

I have one good reason NOT to use Vista 64....fucking 64 bit pointers. My HW took a major performance hit because memory pointers on it are no longer 32 bit. The memory footprint of my application basically doubled in size and my optimization results sucked.

God I need more memory!!!

Hehe...yah, I ran into that issue a few years ago...my work OS was a 64-bit XP OS...so I was doing work and homework at the same time...got hammered due to forgetting about the 64-bit-ness.