Is Vista Ultimate (released version) 64bit?

[Guest]

I'm trying to determine (before installing) if Vista Ultimate has the option
to install as a 64bit or 32bit app?

I have MSDN universal subscription but was unable to determine if the 64bit
version of Vista is available in "release" form?

I would like to install more than 4GB of RAM and don't plan to move to Vista
unless there is a version that supports more than 4GB RAM. I have 16GB of
RAM in my Mac Pro and the benefits of more RAM really help out many of the
applications I use in both environments.

Any info?

Thanks, Rob.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

32bit apps run in x64 unless they rely on a 32bit driver. 32bit code is
executed normally on a 64bit processor. Most of the issues that prevent
older apps from running in Vista x64 have to do with the use of 16bit
installers and unavailability of 64bit drivers, or with unsigned drivers.

 

[Mark Rae]

I'm trying to determine (before installing) if Vista Ultimate has the
option
to install as a 64bit or 32bit app?
Both.

I have MSDN universal subscription but was unable to determine if the
64bit
version of Vista is available in "release" form?

64-bit Vista has been temporarily removed from MSDN download due (they say!)
to high volumes of downloads...

I would like to install more than 4GB of RAM and don't plan to move to
Vista
unless there is a version that supports more than 4GB RAM. I have 16GB of
RAM in my Mac Pro and the benefits of more RAM really help out many of the
applications I use in both environments.

Any info?

This might help, though I don't know if it's 100% accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista

 

[Tom Porterfield]

I'm trying to determine (before installing) if Vista Ultimate has the
option to install as a 64bit or 32bit app?

I have MSDN universal subscription but was unable to determine if the
64bit version of Vista is available in "release" form?

I would like to install more than 4GB of RAM and don't plan to move to
Vista unless there is a version that supports more than 4GB RAM. I have
16GB of RAM in my Mac Pro and the benefits of more RAM really help out
many of the applications I use in both environments.

There are separate downloads from MSDN, one each for 32 bit and 64 bit. The
file name for the 32bit version is en_windows_vista_x86_dvd_X12-34293.iso.
At present the 64bit version has been pulled from MSDN as the servers could
not handle the download volume. At this time, I haven't heard a date that
the 64bit version will be made available on MSDN.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

It is. I am already running Vista Ultimate x64 build 6000 that I downloaded
from MSDN on Thursday. However, it has been temporarily withdrawn due to
heavy traffic. It will be back up on MSDN soon.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Vista x64 supports up to 128GB of ram.

 

[Guest]

Colin,

Can you be more specific by "soon"?

It does seem strange why they pulled it from MSDN as I would think more
people would be downloading 32bit version of Vista, not the 64bit version.
32bit Ultimate is 2.5GB -- is the size of the 64bit version really that much
different?

Thanks, Rob.

 

[Mark Rae]

Vista x64 supports up to 128GB of ram.

I wonder how long it will be before anything approaching that amount of RAM
is possible on a "standard" PC...

Seems to me that 4Gb has pretty much been the maximum for years, and it's
only very recently that Dell have started selling PCs with up to 8Gb...

 

[Mark Rae]

Can you be more specific by "soon"?

I'm wondering that too...

Having said that, I make my living with Visual Studio.NET and SQL Server
2005, so I can't even contemplate upgrading to any version of Vista until
this is sorted out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/windowsvista/default.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/windowsvistasupport.mspx

 

[David Wilkinson]

Colin,

Can you be more specific by "soon"?

It does seem strange why they pulled it from MSDN as I would think more
people would be downloading 32bit version of Vista, not the 64bit version.
32bit Ultimate is 2.5GB -- is the size of the 64bit version really that much
different?

Thanks, Rob.

Rob:

Bandwidth is bandwidth. Actually, the 64 bit version is about 3.5GB.
Don't know about others but I always download/install both versions. So
for people like me, stopping 64-bit makes a lot of difference.

Fortunately, thanks to this newsgroup, I was able to get them both in
about 3 hours last Thursday, before the servers became overloaded.

David Wilkinson

 

[pvdg42]

Colin,

Can you be more specific by "soon"?

It does seem strange why they pulled it from MSDN as I would think more
people would be downloading 32bit version of Vista, not the 64bit version.
32bit Ultimate is 2.5GB -- is the size of the 64bit version really that
much
different?

Thanks, Rob.

Colin is correct, and MSDN is not saying when (I asked MSDN Support). The
difference in ISO size is over a gig. I'll guess they left the x86 version
because everybody can use that (even if they would prefer the x64). If
they'd pulled the x86 ISO, many subscribers would be, effectively,
disenfranchised.
I, too, have the x64 up and running. It seems fine here. No "showstopper"
bugs that the conspiracy theorists would love to see

 

[pvdg42]

I wonder how long it will be before anything approaching that amount of
RAM is possible on a "standard" PC...

Seems to me that 4Gb has pretty much been the maximum for years, and it's
only very recently that Dell have started selling PCs with up to 8Gb...

Most Socket AM2 motherboards support up to 8 Gig of DDR2. Finding the $$ to
purchase the 2 Gig modules is another story, however

 

[Mark Rae]

Most Socket AM2 motherboards support up to 8 Gig of DDR2. Finding the $$
to purchase the 2 Gig modules is another story, however

Or even the ££ - I had a quick search for 8Gb DDR2 in the UK, and it
averages out at about the equivalent cost of four reasonably high-spec
PCs...

My current main development machine is "maxed out" at 4GB RAM, so I guess
I'll be looking at ReadyBoost if I need any more than that...