64bit vs 32bit... ?

Ok there are two issues or questions here.

1) Vista is slower than XP - FACT regardless of 32/64 bit configuration. vitsa in either format requires mor system resources, its one of the reasons why MS pushed on with the development of Wndows 7. Yes the two OS's share a lot of common features but Windows 7 has a lot of the bloat removed from Vista.

2) 32/64 bit operating systems and hard ware are not that different from each other. An intel CPU that is 64bit capable only has extra registers to make use of the larger memory available. There are no other 64 bit only parts of a CPU - Windows or any other OS for that matter will know which programs are coded in 32/64 bit mode and use them accordingly.

One final note - dont forget on a 64 bit system the video drivers are also written to be 64 bit, and might sometimes lag behind the development of the games or even OS patches.

Vista : Uses more RAM, VRAM
Vista : Better multi-core utilization.

Windows 7 : Less RAM usage than vista (still more than XP)
Windows 7 : Even better multi-core utilization!

64-bit is the STANDARD now, so it is NOT off to the wayside. Even like ~90% of sub-$600 laptops come with 64-bit OSes on them now.

I have not noticed any problems with 64-bit OS and online gaming. I run World of Warcraft (yes not FPS but still online) and Unreal tournament w/o issue. I do run a pretty mean machine though. Core 2 Quad 2.83 w/ 4 gigs ram and a Geforce 8800gt.

Does it resemble anything like this? Would you consider this a meanER machine?  

Q9550 @ 3.6 (424x8.5) voltage [Auto]
AC Freezer Pro HSF
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R rev 2.1 F12
8 GB G. Skil DDR2 6400 5-5-5-15 2.0v
XFX HD5770 "egg shape"
Avermedia G2 Combo TV Tuner
2X WD 320 Cavier Blue
BFG 650 watt PS
Enermax Chakra Case

Roll on the penis envy.....

It is slightly meaner, but very close. IMO I didn't see any need to go higher than 4 gigs of ram though because I didn't notice much of a difference going from 2 to 4. Anyways:

Q9550 @ Stock. Still on stock cooler yet so no OC
Asus P5Q Pro Turbo
4 gigs of OCZ PC2 6400 5-4-4-15
Asus Geforce 8800gt
2x Seagate 250gb in RAID 0
Antec 650 watt PS
Case I have no idea, I got it from an auction.

Not too shabby. Your computer is a bit meaner, but as long as mine is able to run the games I am a happy person. Though I do think my video card is going bad, sometimes I get artifacts in the screen. How is that Radeon 5770?

The extra registers accessible in 64bit mode should overly compensate for additional bandwidth for larger pointers. The fine grain locking of Win7 compared to XP/Vista lets it run more responsive under load and scale lots better with more cores.

Any sluggishness felt in 64bit is more than likely caused by bad drivers.

Also, having a 4GB limit on address space puts a huge hamper on a 32bit machine, especially with new 1GB+ vid cards eating up a lot of that space.

I've been running 64 bit OS's (Vista, now 7) since 2007 and I've never experienced lag in games and any problems were purely down to someone else being better!  

I know you mention it's not the hardware, but how have you actually tested this? Have you got both 32bit and 64bit versions of the same OS on the same PC? If you're comparing Vista 64 to XP 32, or two different machines with the same flavour, then you're introducing a lot of variables it could be, as the others have said.

Also, have you considered that it might be down to the 64bit drivers for the network port you're attached to the net through? Might be worth checking the motherboard manufacturers website to see if updates ones are available?

Oh, and on the side topic - dwave you almost certainly won't notice a difference going 4gb to 8gb (I didn't, except when quitting GTA4 to desktop after a long session - saved 2 seconds!), and your PC is indeed pretty decent. Henrystrawn, yours is also decent, but you lose points for e-peen comparing and not adding anything constructive to the thread!   Either of you (and me for that matter) will get killed by anyone trolling with an i7 and a 5970!  

I agree with Confused Stu, you say it is not the hardware, but it could be the hardware drivers. Maybe list your hardware and we can see if there is a possibility.

You are right Confused Stu, an i7 will kill my system, but that is alright because my quad does everything I need!   That, and I don't have the $$$ to upgrade, lol.

STU: 32+64bit Vista/32+64bitXP...... and yes, I have tried both opsys on same hardware. There was just something sloppy about the 64bit and online gaming. If I have time to get back to gaming... haha, I'll check on drivers and updates for the mother boards. Not something I always think about. I will say that Intel core2' duos and quads were on most of the machines that I had the troubles with... no fanboyism intended. One AMD 939 system with the 64bit also had some kind of disconnect about it. I can do the same stuff with a 32bit opsys on any platform and not have these problems.... single player 32/64.... no problems what so ever.

Did the systems have the same kind of network cards?

Without trying to rack my brains over several systems the last personal build was.......... EP45-UD3P-Q9550-8gig DDR2.800-raptors- everything had the latest updates except for the bios. No meaningful updates that would have made a difference and nothing I needed. ALL ( xp32-64--vista 32/64 )operating systems were installed on different drives on this machine as were several video cards from both camps. ( I try lots of hardware as a years time goes by... self "benchmarker" I guess )
The other core2 machine ( also Gigabyte ) was with a dual core 6850 with 4gig crucial ballistix ( 1gig sticks ) and similar opsys's.
The last 939 machine had a 4800x2-4gig ocz pc3200- ASUS mobo--various cards 32 and 64bit xp only.............YES.... all drivers cleaned before install of different cards.
Any system, any 32bit opsys--- no problems. Any system/setup 64bit opsys I have the problem. Over time I hopefully expunged the monitor/resolutions............ But what I just thought about was that punkbuster was needed in the newer games but that couldn't be the problem because some of the games on the strictly older hardware running older games didn't use it. Not yet known if it happens on W7 or on i5-i7 opsys/hardware...............................

That is strange, your setup is similar to mine, except you have 8gigs of ram and a different motherboard. I don't know why you see a lag. My systems (my main Intel q9550 and my AMD x2 5600 which runs Vista 64bit.) works terrific with 64bit. Have you gave windows 7 64bit a shot?

I won't be moving on to W7 for a while. I don't have need for it and my current system can't be beat. The lagg thing..... As I remember more.... the mouse feels sloppy and reaction sems slow. It happened with different mice. Logitech..can't remember #, an ocz gamer and a microsoft gamer... and one or two others..... they all do have "laser" in common.... ???.... and most have adjustable dpi.

I run an optical mouse on my gaming machine (no problems at all), but I do have a laser mouse on the other one, and it seems to be extremely picky about the surface. It was made by logitech. Maybe that is what you need to look at then.

I thought about that later in the day. I tried a lot of surfaces.... stainless steel, glass, bare wood, notebook paper..( don't laugh-works great ), and a multitude of other things......... but it didn't matter in the end...... the 32bit opsys didn't have the problem. Perhaps software related..?? I run a lot of the same apps on almost every machine. Maybe there's a connection. But why would 64bit be isolated ?