Upgrading to Vista 64

[Guest]

I already have the 32 bit version of Vista, and as part of an upgrade I plan
on moving to the 64 bit version of Vista. I've checked my hardware, and there
are 64 bit drivers for everything, and I understand I have to do a clean
install instead of an upgrade.

My question then is compatibility with other software, including games.
Assuming all of my hardware drivers are okay, will I have any troubles with
existing 32 bit software?

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Unless you are going to use 64bit applications which will require more than
4gb of installed RAM, there is little point presently in running 64bit just
because you can.

For general hardware/software compatibility, 32bit is better..

 

[Dustin Harper]

It really depends on what you are using. I haven't had much of a problem
with any software I've had to use, and found a lot of 64 bit
alternatives. But, there are always a few that have some kind of issue.
Your AntiVirus will need to be 64 bit (AVG has a free version). I've
found that my 64 Bit install has worked near flawlessly. A very great
version of Vista for me.

 

[Guest]

"Unless you are going to use 64bit applications which will require more than
4gb of installed RAM, there is little point presently in running 64bit just
because you can."

There's also no point in pouring thousands of dollars into a car making it
into a 500+ horsepower monster when it'll probably never be used in a real
race - yet I see people doing it all the time.

Besides, here are my reasons:

- Games are already hitting the 4 GB limit. I've talked to some game
developers that have expressed frustration that they're already hitting the
limit and have to scale back the game to prevent it from becoming too large.

- I'm a developer myself, and I need to ensure compatibility with future
machines. 64 bits is the future, therefore I need to ensure compatibility
with 64 bit OSes.

- I occasionally dabble with print resolution images and raytracing. They'll
definitely use up more than 4 GB if you let them.

- Quite frankly, even 4 GB is not really 4 GB on a 32 bit machine. It's more
like 3 or 3.5 GB. Even less if you consider that Vista uses a lot of memory
for caching various things. When all is said and done, there's not really
that much left.

- I feel like I'm putting a 4 cylinder engine in a Dodge Viper. It doesn't
make sense to me that I'm upgrading my system to become very powerful but
putting in an OS that isn't taking full advantage of the 64 bit CPU.

- Remember when 640 KB was thought to be enough? How long did that last?
Quite frankly, going to 64 bits is going to ensure my computer lasts a while
- I'm very confident that even if I don't use more than 4 GB now, I'll be
using that much in the near future. The trend to need more memory continues.
Software continues to grow.

- Ultimately, I'm the one who decides if I want to upgrade. I just want my
question answered - I don't want to be told what I should or should not do
with my system. That's my business and my decision. I've pretty much decided
I'm going to take the risk, and I'll create a backup of my system so I can
always go back to 32 bits if 64 bits doesn't work out.

"I haven't had much of a problem with any software I've had to use, and
found a lot of 64 bit alternatives."

Do you need 64 bit versions of all software, or just some software? What
types of applications have troubles working in 64 bits? How well do games
handle a 64 bit OS?

I use AVG, so it's good to hear it can use 64 bit.

 

[Guest]

Okay - due to one driver not being available in 64 bits (for my UPS), due to
the possibility of other software breaking, due to possible WGA issues with
running the 32 bit version of Vista with the same license key in a virtual
machine, and due to the fact that upgrading my motherboard is going to be a
big enough task by itself, I'll stick with 32 bit for now.

.. . . BUT as soon as I can I do plan on upgrading to 64 bit. Quite frankly,
that 4 GB barrier is already starting to bite some people and more people are
going to start hitting it in the near future. Once I can be sure all of my
hardware and software works in 64 bits, I'm switching.

I may set up my computer to dual boot so I can test compatibility and have a
place to fall back to when stuff fails. Any idea if dual booting affects WGA
and my license? I only have one license key at the moment .

IMHO there should be a much harder push for 64 bits. I'd rather we get
people to move to it BEFORE we start hitting the 4 GB barrier than after.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

32bit programs top out at 2gb, and very few ever get even close to that much
memory usage. The big breakthrough will be when software authors start
producing applications in 64bit, and first they have to see a need for it.

 

[Guest]

.. . . and I just checked the license and dual booting is a no-go . I'd have
to get a new license. I guess my 64 bit DVD, which I had just bought, is
going to collect dust for a couple years.

It's too bad, really. Here we have all of the hardware ready to go, and it's
just too risky to switch because software is not catching up.

Yes, I do have some software that has 64 bit versions if I switched. Some
games, 3D rendering, and image editing all have 64 bit equivalents.

Some of them already see the need for it, as I pointed out earlier. Games
are really pushing the limits, and video, photo, and even a bit of audio
editing are becoming more common to regular users rather than being just a
niche professional market: Think YouTube. Also, stuff like iTunes and HDTV
are using a lot of resources just for playback, especially when DRM is
involved as it requires decryption on the fly for high definition video.
These limits are going to get hit sooner than you think. It's already
starting to happen on many systems.

We're not going to keep up with Moore's law if we refuse to switch. Wirth's
law is still going strong.

Should we stop progress just because we're satisfied with the status quo?

 

[Guest]

.. . . and I changed my mind again, while trying to install Vista. I went
ahead and got the 64 bit version. And I'm happy I did! The compatibility
issue I thought I'd have with my UPS never appeared, as it turns out the
software for my UPS is just a regular program to communicate with the UPS and
not a real driver.

From what I can tell, the only software I need to worry about not working
are drivers and other software that works at a low level. All of the other
stuff like games, email, word processing, image editing, etc seems to work
just fine.

In fact, thanks in large part to ensuring all of my hardware had 64 bit
drivers before performing the upgrade, I've had no issues at all with
compatibility other than what already didn't work in 32 bit Vista. Once you
get all the drivers installed, it works like a dream . I've yet to
encounter ordinary 32 bit software that doesn't work.

"32bit programs top out at 2gb, and very few ever get even close to that
much "

Perhaps, but I rarely run only one program at a time . . . all of those
megabytes and the occasional gigabyte add up pretty quickly.

In any case, as usual the real problem is Vista's poor updating. I hoped it
would have improved, but alas it did not, and I was left doing a clean
install. Neither the 64 nor the 32 bit version wanted to upgrade my existing
install.

Also, what's up with Vista's backup and restore system? It refuses to
recognize my backup and let me restore the files, leaving me to manually
unzip them! Talk about a royal pain to get my data back .