64 bit systems advice

I want to build a 64 bit system, or at least I thought I did. It seems I already own one, and didn't know it because it has 32bit Vista installed. (NO, BEFORE YOU ASK, THIS IS MY DESKTOP, NOT MY LAPTOP) Why any company would install a 32bit operating system on a 64 bit machine escapes me.... I am so confuzzled.

My questions concern programs and drivers.

If I go to win7 64 do I have to go 64 bit drivers for all my hardware too?

Can I still run all my old 32bit games?

Is there any information I should be made aware of concerning a 64 bit operating system, or machine??

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx in advance.

These are serious concerns of mine, please don't turn this into another snafu thread.

---

The best things in life, aren't things.

Orpheus said:
If I go to win7 64 do I have to go 64 bit drivers for all my hardware too?

Yes, all drivers must be 64bit. This is actually the reason 32bit windows still exists and is installed by large OEMs - the 32bit drivers are more easily available/better tested etc, although these days there isn't really an issue with 64bit driver availability.

Can I still run all my old 32bit games?

All 32bit apps will work. 64bit XP/Vista/7 etc have a technology called WOW (Windows on Windows) where all 32bit code gets run natively and 64 bit apps coexist happily side by side with 32bit apps. In fact most of your old 16bit DOS apps will work too, just as they do in 32bit XP.

Everything is exactly the same, except you now have two programs files folders - 'program files' for 64bit apps, 'program files(x86)' for 32bit apps.

Is there any information I should be made aware of concerning a 64 bit operating system, or machine??

Nothing springs to mind. The sole reason for going 64bit in consumer space is to get rid of the artificial 4GB RAM limit on 32bit Windows. There is no other benefit, and the only things to worry about are drivers... which as I say above are fine these days.

I've ran 64bit 7 for over a year now, 64bit Vista I 'experienced' before that... they're no different to 32bit XP/Vista/7 tbh

...if yu want a bit more insight... every x86 CPU has been x86-64 since the K8/Athlon 64... Some Pentium 4's weren't, but every C2D is... basically every CPU for the last 4 years has been 64bit.

A lot of people misunderstand what 64bit does for them... the only advantage is, as I said above, the ability to use more RAM. 32bit windows is artificially limited to 4GB of address space (so you usually get around 3GB RAM usable) - 32bit Windows actually uses 48bit addressing (Physical Address Extension or PAE) and can handle vastly more RAM than 4GB (as the server versions do)... and indeed the original XP release could. The limit was introduced by MS in XP SP2 because nVidia couldn't write drivers that didn't BSOD when more than 4GB RAM was present.

Other than that... x86-64 does add the nx-bit instruction which is required for DEP, and you probably don't even realise your 32bit OS is running in PAE mode so it can be aware of the extra bit.

But... there's not really much to it tbh.

Oh, 32bit Windows also artificially limits individual apps to maximum 2GB RAM usage - this is why Supreme Commander use to crash 32bit systems on huge maps when it was first released... post-patch they vastly reduced the app's RAM usage.

As you can probably guess, my motivation is the memory issues with games like Stalker. Stalker is a superb game. One of the few that you can play without an internet connection.

I have no issues with the upgrade, but find it annoying being forced t do it simply to play the game at maximum.

I figure that since going 64bit will resolve all/most of the future gaming issues of this nature, upgrading is a solution easy to do.

Thanx for the insights. I will be searching out drivers and hope to soonly upgrade to 64bit.

---

The best things in life, aren't things.

Yeah... tbh alt-tab during a game, load up task manager and check how much RAM the game process is actually using. Chances are it's around 500MB. Even huge strategy games like SupCom/EmpireTW only use 1GB-1.5GB

If they used more, they'd run into the 2GB limit on 32bit windows which is 80% of the market - so they don't.

The upshot is... going 64bit doesn't actually help you in any way. Certainly not so far as gaming goes.

Also, remember that even if you play the 32bit games on 64bit they're still 32bit apps - ie they won't take advantage of all that extra address space. There are a few 64bit games around - there is a 64bit version of Crysis for example, but it is buggy and actually performs more poorly than the 32bit one.

64bit is good for Photoshop CS4 64bit if you're working with huge projects, and a few other specialist apps. Other than that there ain't much point. You're far better putting the money toward a better graphics card if gaming is your main focus.

Also... W7 is ace with drivers. You probably won't have to go looking for anything. The only things worth checking are old scanners/printers/odd peripherals etc

Also bear in mind that all Vista 64bit drivers will work with Windows 7 - so if something doesn't have W7 drivers listed just use the Vista ones.

My gaming experiences have been somewhat limited these past 2 years however the Stalker issue is well known.

It kinda bummed me out that the best solution the people at the stalker website could suggest was to upgrade to 64bit. They kinda had the attitude that since games are going that way anyway, you might just get it over with.

This may be true but it just struck me wrong. It was like "its your problem, deal"

I dunno about you guys, but insinuating that I need to deal with it just felt wrong.

Anywhos' I guess I'll deal.

---

The best things in life, aren't things.