32 v 64 bit - XP, Vista, W7

[Milo]

Hello my esteemed colleagues,
I am building a new home PC and would like your advice on the O/S to use.
I got a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P mo-bo with a 2.8GHz AMD 3-core processor and 4 Gigs of memory
It will be used mainly by my lads for school stuff (yeah right!), music, games, web, etc. They're not 'extreme' gamers but seeing that they are starting to lean a bit away from the Xbox then PC/net games are sure to be more popular soon.
What are yer suggestions for 32 v 64 bit and the suite of MS types I've listed in the topic?
Many thanks in advance for the advice.
Milo

[Stuart 0366]

Personally I can only speak of XP mate.

I bought this rig a few years ago and it has a 64 chip so I tried using it to it's full potential...as a 64 rig.

Things were not as straight forward as that though. The drivers for many apps and games were just not there for a 64 set up in XP (and as far as I am aware still aren't). so I had to do a reinstall with XP 32.

64 was good though when you could get drivers for the things that you used, just not enough time was spent by developers on the drivers for 64 so in retrospect I wasted money buying a 64 chipset

I don't know if this will be sorted for the upcoming Win 7 though ...hopefully it will because I have a new rig coming soon (most come with 64 chips as standard now I noticed).

One to keep an eye on

[chroma]

XP 32
Thousands of support sites and thoroughly documented and tested.

64bit
Able to address 4gb+ of memory.
Lacks support for several drivers and is overall a bit of a nightmare to have things run on. i had several issues with 64bit XP enough to jump ship.

Vista
Ive never had a problem with it, it comes in both 32 and 64bit variants, its driver support is far better on both fronts.
Its a lot heavier than XP however in terms of resources.
It got a lot of bad press so trying to figure out the subterfuge and hyperbole from the solid truth is sketchy unless you actualy use the system.

W7
if Vista was an analogue of Windows ME then this would be an analoge of Windows 2000.
Its essentialy a marrying of the best of XP and Vista thrown into one.

id reccomend W7 64bit as it can address all of your memory (im still trying to figure the point of sustaining 32bit devlopment past vista, i cant find any justification)

It will run everything you need and be sonewhat futureproof.

[ianmac]

Hello my esteemed colleagues,
I am building a new home PC and would like your advice on the O/S to use.
I got a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P mo-bo with a 2.8GHz AMD 3-core processor and 4 Gigs of memory
It will be used mainly by my lads for school stuff (yeah right!), music, games, web, etc. They're not 'extreme' gamers but seeing that they are starting to lean a bit away from the Xbox then PC/net games are sure to be more popular soon.
What are yer suggestions for 32 v 64 bit and the suite of MS types I've listed in the topic?
Many thanks in advance for the advice.
Milo

Hi Milo

Thats gonna be a bloody good & fast setup with that fully loaded mo-bo, are you sure the kids didn't put you up for this system so they can use it for games?

Is the 4gig memory DDR3 as it is twice as fast as DDR2.
You don't say what Graphics card you are getting, or are you just using the onboard
& I would go for @ least a 600w SLi power supply.

You could power the space shuttle with that setup!!! Well @ least the homework will be done quick..

Anyway back to the question...

I have been using Windows 7 32bit for a few months now, seems very stable,
Have speed tested both 32 & 64bit versions & the 64bit was only a small 0.1 indent faster.
Getting the 32bit windows 7 drivers was not a problem with the help of a great program (driver magician),
but as "Stuart 0366" say's, even now the problem is still there trying to get the 64bit drivers, & for such a small speed increase,
I also went with the 32bit version.

Hope this helps
Ian

[Milo]

Wow, that's brilliant, thanks gents for the advice.
Yeah Ian, I've gone for DDR3 and have a Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Graphics card. I don't know enough about extreme gaming to start meddling with "CrossFire" yet, but yer right, one of the boys helped me spec out the new system so there's defo an ulterior motive as he's a big fan of those D-Day shoot-em-up games!
Thanks again Stuart & Chroma for the run-down on my options, once again this forum ROCKS!

[ianmac]

Wow, that's brilliant, thanks gents for the advice.
Yeah Ian, I've gone for DDR3 and have a Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Graphics card. I don't know enough about extreme gaming to start meddling with "CrossFire" yet, but yer right, one of the boys helped me spec out the new system so there's defo an ulterior motive as he's a big fan of those D-Day shoot-em-up games!
Thanks again Stuart & Chroma for the run-down on my options, once again this forum ROCKS!

No probs m8

Just come back on here & let us know how you got on...

[balade]

windows 7 x64 is the best!

[ManofScience]

64bit machines are essential for serious gaming, more and more games/devices now have 64bit support , nevermind the fact u can fill them with 6 or 8GB DDR3 RAM.

Windows 7 64bit all the way

[Milo]

No probs m8

Just come back on here & let us know how you got on...

It's like trading in a Robin Reliant for the Concorde - what a difference!!
Thanks to all for the advice and tips, I've a system now that should keep for 5 or 6 years as the last one did.

DK ROCKS

Milo

[ianmac]

It's like trading in a Robin Reliant for the Concorde - what a difference!!
Thanks to all for the advice and tips, I've a system now that should keep for 5 or 6 years as the last one did.

DK ROCKS

Milo

Well done m8, glad you got it setup ok...

But what I want to know is, who is on it most (you or the boys) .

Ian