Is 64bit computing really that great?

[Mr Original]

Recently I have made the jump to 64bit.

Originally I was on 64bit Vista but I found it almost impossible to find any software and installing everything turned into a nightmare so I just gave up.

I have now been on 64bit Xp for a few months and have to the conclusion it really isn't that special. I literally have 4 native things installed in 64bit and everything else is in the Program Files (x86) folder! In terms of performance I have seen no great gain. If anything its running worse, with it being a bitch to start up and certain applications it just doesnt like. There is no decent anti virus or firewall version either so I end up with a hacked up solution.

all in all im not impressed. There does not seem to be enough wide spread support for it so its being held back. I for one am seriously thinking of going back to my version of heavily tweaked Xp 32bit, which ran like a dream!

What has everyone else's experiences been?

 

[Nimrod]

I'm in the position that I need to run 64-bit OS's because I have more than 4gb of Ram in my system.

I tried XP x64 once, but didnt like that due to the lack of drivers and support. Though Microsoft themselves say its more of a technical preview than a usable every day OS. Also all the applications on it are 32-bit, it was just the kernal that was 64-bit.

With Vista Microsoft went one step further with x64 and made 64-bit versions of all versions except for Starter. This is the time I fully used a x64 OS and ive honestly had no problems. Yes its true drivers are a bit more if an issue, luckily for me I've managed to get drivers for every peice of hardware including TV tuner and soundcard. It makes me more concerned when buying new stuff making sure it has 64-bit drivers but luckily I've been ok so far.

What annoys me most about x64 Windows is the way system builders are handling it. To make 64-bit a viable option for everyone we need drivers and support, but the only way were going to get driver support is for there to be enough user base to require it. Unless system builders and people like yourself dont jump on the 64-bit bandwagon and push it to friends and family the move to get home users across is just going to be so long winded and played out. Its like a big cycle that wont break, home users stay on 32-bit for drivers, companys make drivers only for 32-bit as thats where the users are. Until users move, driver makers wont move and with more and more PC's having 4gb of ram and over, the more needed the transistion is needed.

/rant over

 

[Trebor]

I made the switchover when I built my new PC. I didn't really think about driver issues as I was confident any new hardware I bought would have 64bit drivers which luckily they did! Apart from a few problems with the latest Nvidia drivers and UT2004 (not really a prob to do with 64bit computing) I'm as happy as Larry. Can't say I've noticed anything different though, most programs I have don't have 64bit versions. I'm more impressed with Daul Core processors. Whilst waiting to go somewhere in World Of Warcraft I loaded up UT2004 and managed a full DM game then went back to WOW. Now that's progress in technology .

 

[InsaneNutter]

I installed Vista Business 64bit on my Laptop last year and I have been running Vista Ultimate 64bit on my PC since April this year. I’ve not had any problems with drivers, the only thing that didn’t have 64bit drivers was my 7 year old Canon scanner, however I found a neat little program called VueScan that included some 64bit drivers for my scanner so I was more than happy.

I haven’t noticed much difference at all, I noticed a lot more performance increase when I got 2 new hard drives and setup a Raid 0 array.

The main thing for me about using a 64bit OS is I can use 4gb or more of ram which is what I’m doing, As Mr Original says I’ve not really found many 64bit applications.

In the time I have used a 64bit OS the thing that has impressed me the most is the Dolphin GameCube Emulator, the 64bit version of this Emu will play Sonic Adventure 2 Battle almost perfectly where as the 32bit version comes nowhere close. Crysis was supposed to run 15% better on a 64bit OS, can’t honestly say I noticed any difference.

 

[Mr Original]

I'm more impressed with Daul Core processors. Whilst waiting to go somewhere in World Of Warcraft I loaded up UT2004 and managed a full DM game then went back to WOW. Now that's progress in technology .

I think i agree with you there! I noticed a HUGE difference going to dual, although I still dont think there is enough support for it. I remember there being a big thing about SupCom being the first game to support dual core correctly.

As for 64bit people are not going to make the push until they are forced. Did I not read that Windows 7 will only be in 64bit? That would certainly help move it forward somewhat!

 

[InsaneNutter]

As for 64bit people are not going to make the push until they are forced. Did I not read that Windows 7 will only be in 64bit? That would certainly help move it forward somewhat!

Sadly not, Windows 7 will be the last consumer version of Windows to ship with 32bit and 64bit editions. However the next edition of Windows Server will be 64 bit only.

Considering how badly my old Athlon XP 3200+ ran Vista compared to XP I would love to see how any processor that’s old enough not to support the 64bit architecture will run Windows 7.

 

[Mr Original]

Sadly not, Windows 7 will be the last consumer version of Windows to ship with 32bit and 64bit editions. However the next edition of Windows Server will be 64 bit only.

Considering how badly my old Athlon XP 3200+ ran Vista compared to XP I would love to see how any processor that’s old enough not to support the 64bit architecture will run Windows 7.

Hmm, i think that is a mistake. 64x has been out for donkeys years, its about time they pushed it forward. All current hardware will support it so it seems crazy not too.

I guess they are worried about the huge backlash they would get from software developers. Im sure someone would say its anticompetitive!

 

[InsaneNutter]

I guess they are worried about the huge backlash they would get from software developers.

I honestly don’t think they would be a huge backlash, most 32bit applications work fine in Vista x64 and ones that didn’t quickly had a patch released ages ago. It’s not like 64bit Windows can’t run 32bit applications, most of the applications I’m running now are 32bit.

Whatever Microsoft do people are going to moan either way, but as Windows 7 is going to use the same driver model as Vista they really should step up a gear and make it 64bit only, 64bit drivers for Vista are becoming more common every day.

 

[Nimrod]

64-bit for all versions except for "Starter Edition", that would be the way forward.
That way undeveloped countries could experience Windows 7 on there donated PC's.

If Microsoft dont force the move to 64-bit for consumers, like they are for Servers soon, this is going to get dragged out for far too long. Time between Windows releases is 3-7 years, so if we have to wait for Windows 8 for 64-bit Only that could be over 10 years away! 10 years of 32-bit users with the odd 64-bit user. Perfect.

Sometimes the way Apple does things of forcing and being closed seems to work better, Mac's are moving 64-bit and users dont have the option of asking for 32-bit. Perhaps MS should charge double the price for a 32-bit version to developed countries, that could get people onto 64-bit

 

[InsaneNutter]

64bit Support is common for a lot of hardware now, it's companies like Creative and Logitech who expect you to buy new hardware or pay for new drivers to have 64bit support is what’s holding things back for a lot of people. I would say all new motherboards have 64bit drivers now as do graphics card’s. It’s the small things like cheap-o webcams, well actually decent webcams too like the Quickcam zoom, that’s still sold today yet has no 64bit drivers.

PCs are ready for 64bit, my 3 year old laptop is running Vista Business x64 perfectly. Its more of extras people have, like TV Cards, Webcams, Joypads, which lack support. It doesn’t exactly help that things like the Microsoft Fingerprint reader don’t work very well if at all under X64 from what I’ve heard. I agree with Nimrod to some extent that Microsoft could push X64 Windows a lot better!

Its really up to major pc manufactures to push X64 more and make sure the hardware in the PC is comptable, all pc’s sold today should have X64 Windows unless the customer requests otherwise.

 

[Mr Original]

I dont think its necessarily a driver issue, to me it seems to be software. There are 1000's (probably 100,000's) types of software for Windows, but hardly any run natively in 64bit.

For example, I always look for a 64bit version, but I only have 4 folders for software in my program folder files, the rest is in Program Files (x86). I dont think 64bit is going to have any major impact until Microsoft force it, making compaines develop natively in 64bit. But even then it's going to take years until all the freeware and stuff you can get is available.

I just find it annoying that there is huge potential there but no company seems to be pushing it.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Even if Microsoft forced everyone in to using 64bit Windows most 32bit applications still work perfectly in it so I could see a lot of developers still continuing just to offer a 32bit version of the application to support customers who haven’t gone 64bit, am I right in thinking you would like support for 32bit applications dropped in 64bit versions of Windows so developers would be forced to program 64bit versions of their software?

I do agree though there’s no real reason to use 64bit Windows unless you have 4gb of ram or more, even Microsoft’s own software such as Office is only 32bit. Since running 64bit windows I think only this Gamecube emulator Dolphin and Crysis are the only 64bit applications I have used.

The speed improvement between the 32bit and 64bit versions of that GameCube emulator were amazing though I didn’t really notice anything with Crysis.

 

[xzKinGzxBuRnzx]

I do agree though there’s no real reason to use 64bit Windows unless you have 4gb of ram or more.

I agree I switched to 64bit windows before, I saw no major increase. The only programs I saw you could use in 64bit were crysis and IE. The only difference is being able to use more memory. Though if you could use 8gbs and more RAM in 32bit there would be no differences from 64bit.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Though if you could use 8gbs and more RAM in 32bit there would be no differences from 64bit.

There is a lot of difference between 32bit and 64bit applications, for stuff like Word and IE you wouldn’t notice a lot of difference however in more depending applications you would notice a significant improvement using a 64bit version of the application.

 

[heero]

for me i once tried a x64 but i felt that 32 is more faster and better i dunno why but maybe cuz it was vista .
note:VISTA sucks.

 

[daarkside]

the problem with all new things is, they are never finished

and ppl, like some of u guys are the beta testers without knowing it


THX for that, personaly i see no need for 64bit or vista or ps3 or dx10 or sc2 beta...... oh wait.... the last beta would be a good thing, if its done

 

[WoW1]

I had a 64bit system, but there were almost no drivers and I had to get back to 32bit

 

[LordTyrans]

ye, but u can still run 32bit os on 64bit cpu so there is no harm in getting a 64bit cpu, but if you do gt one u are rdy 2 upgrade if it takes over.

 

[Ultrakiller]

my opinion about x64 OS is that sucks.it's incompatibility it's still epidemic and doesn't worth buy it until all the new softwares that will appear will migrate from x32 to x64

 

[xzKinGzxBuRnzx]

Well, I just upgrade a few days ago to 64bit...I couldn't be happier. The OS is running so much faster and taking advantage of so much more memory now. I've very happy I did.