vista ultimate 32 bit

[Guest]

I am considering a new computer Q6600 Quad Core 2 Duo 4GB (500GB HD) nVidia
8600GT 1GB VGA card. Will vista 32 bit run ok on this system or would I have
to purchase vista 64bit ? Thanks....

 

[peter]

Vista 32 bit should run......Vista 64 bit should also work.............
I would stick with the 32bit version.
peter

 

[Bistey Csaba]

x86-64 is a 64-bit superset of the x86 instruction set architecture,
which means you can use 32 bit os on a 64 bit system.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help cheers...

x86-64 is a 64-bit superset of the x86 instruction set architecture,
which means you can use 32 bit os on a 64 bit system.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help cheers...

Vista 32 bit should run......Vista 64 bit should also work.............
I would stick with the 32bit version.
peter

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am considering a new computer Q6600 Quad Core 2 Duo 4GB (500GB HD) nVidia
8600GT 1GB VGA card. Will vista 32 bit run ok on this system or would I have
to purchase vista 64bit ? Thanks....

Yes, it will run. However, note that you will not be able to make full
use of your 3GB of RAM. All 32-bit versions of Windows, even though
they have a 4GB address space, can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but is
usually around 3.1GB. But I've seen numbers as high as 3.5GB.

To use the full 4GB, you would need 64-bit Windows. However, unless
they run particularly memory-hungry programs, most people would see
little or no improvement by going above 2GB.

On the other hand, if you ran 64-bit Vista to be able to use the full
4GB, you might have trouble getting drivers for all your hardware. If
you decide to do this, you should make sure of driver availability on
advance.

 

[smithy]

Microsoft is full of it, dont bother as there are bugs galore putting
anything more than 2gig in your vista machines.

Games like Supreme Commanders etc etc can't hack the 2gig limit, and Vista
starts screwing up usb port assignments.

64bit no problems, other than its pointless


smithy

 

[smithy]

I should qualify this by saing that moving back to xp pro all these issues
went away.

smithy

 

[titus12]

Ken:

What would be your answer if your system had the new Intel 45nm processor?
They will have 12MB and/or 6MB of L2 Cache. Will the 32bit be just as fast
with 3MB of memory vs. the 64bit with 8MB of memory?

Thank you;
David

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken:

What would be your answer if your system had the new Intel 45nm processor?
They will have 12MB and/or 6MB of L2 Cache. Will the 32bit be just as fast
with 3MB of memory vs. the 64bit with 8MB of memory?

I assume you mean GB, not MB, in that last sentence.

First, I know nothing about that processor, and can't comment on it.

Second, in comparing a 3GB system to an 8GB system, the most important
issue by far is what applications are running. You get good
performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from using the
page file, and that depends on what apps you run.

If you have more memory than you need to keep you out of the page
file, the extra memory essentially does nothing for you. So unless you
are running particularly memory-hungry applications, doing things like
video editing or editing large photographic images, having as much as
8GB.

Most people don't need anywhere near as much memory as 8GB, but for
those who do, the extra memory would almost certainly be important
than any difference is processor speed. But for most people, 3GB is
more than enough RAM, and a faster processor would be more significant
than having any more RAM.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I assume you mean GB, not MB, in that last sentence.

First, I know nothing about that processor, and can't comment on it.

Second, in comparing a 3GB system to an 8GB system, the most important
issue by far is what applications are running. You get good
performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from using the
page file, and that depends on what apps you run.

If you have more memory than you need to keep you out of the page
file, the extra memory essentially does nothing for you. So unless you
are running particularly memory-hungry applications, doing things like
video editing or editing large photographic images, having as much as
8GB.

Sorry, missing words at the end of that last sentence. It should read
"So unless you are running particularly memory-hungry applications,
doing things like video editing or editing large photographic images,
having as much as 8GB will accomplish nothing more than having 2GB or
so."

Most people don't need anywhere near as much memory as 8GB, but for
those who do, the extra memory would almost certainly be important
than any difference is processor speed. But for most people, 3GB is
more than enough RAM, and a faster processor would be more significant
than having any more RAM.