Combine 64-bit Microsoft Vista and 8 GB of RAM ($198) and you'll see a measurable improvement in performance. We show you how to do it, talk about the gotchas, and provide pointers on tweaking your system.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/0 [...] index.html

Can't find right words to express my displease with this article. Really don't know what author wanted to do with it.

Speak a little bit about more ram more speed, than about Vista, than turn around and speak about Cinderella, bad wolf , global warming . . . . and a little bit more about how to disable paging and it's enough let's conclude this with story of how (and can you) upgrade your vista.

Ahhh by the way trust me because i say so, it runs faster.

O my God this was bad article.

Pardon me if this seems like a snarky question... But if there's a 'measurable' increase in performance, why didn't Tom's measure anything???? (except footprint)


Bone to pick: Page 1, Paragraph 4:

The above statement is incorrect. This is a 32 bit Windows issue, and affects ALL consumer versions of the OS. Not just Vista 32. PAE mode was/is enabled only for security reasons (DEP) in XP SP2, and not as a means to use more RAM. The reason why remains the same: Using PAE extensions requires drivers that are 64 bit address~aware. If not, any time a driver or app attempts a Direct Memory Access call to an address which the OS mapped elsewhere under PAE, errors get thrown, screens turn blue, and people send (even more) hate mail to Microsoft. And if it's the case that drivers and apps have to be 64 bit address aware, then you may as well just go to a 64 bit OS in the first place...



Thanks for the command to deactivate Hibernation, though. (powercfg -H off) - the Author is right on this one: With 4GB of RAM, I've found it faster just to start Windows normally.

The thing that ticks me off, is that there is no "reasonable cost" alternative to those people that built systems with OEM copies of Vista 32. We've got to buy a full retail copy with another license in order to get Vista 64, bulls**t. I'll wait until Windows 7 or maybe find another OS.

Tom

ExTechie:
That's not true unless it's Vista basic. Otherwise just install the 64bit media and your key will work for 32bit and 64bit versions. To get the media download an Ultimate DVD which has both versions. During the install select your flavor and use your key.

That's all fine and dandy, but in what way exactly does performance increase? And most importantly, compared to what? To 2GB of RAM or less? Well duh.

I'd like to see some actual tests comparing performance (in regular day-to-day, in gaming and in heavy video-editing situations) on 2GB, 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Especially 4GB vs 8GB. I have yet to find a convincing argument to choose 8GB over 4GB and this article doesn't provide any, other than "because it's cool" and "because it's not expensive". That obviously won't do.

So, anyone have any real experience with 8GB vs 4GB?

This article sucks. You go as far to mention a test setup, but show no test results.

This article does seem like it was not finished. We would all like to see more data on the actual results.

Furthermore, I'd like to see what the differences are between XP 64 and Vista 64.

Yea. After test setup I fully expected to see a page full of tests!!

WTF???

This actually works?

If it does work then surely you must have purchased Ultimate to begin with right? Else your key will not activate Ultimate?

If you have an OEM of any version the key would not work with anything DL from MS either? Right? Since you are buying retail from MS, not OEM, unless you are a dealer?

Not arguing here - just asking.

Notherdude...did you try this? Will this free up 8 gigs of space on my hard drive? Sorry for any confusion. I have never been able to account for approximately 8 gigs of space on my 150 raptor system drive? Did you gain 4 gigs of space on your machine by disabling hibernation files?

powercfg -H off

Similarly, the command

powercfg -H on

Toms you are getting worse by the day, one of these days you will not see my feet at this site any more!

Where are the Windows load times?

Game load times?

Game benchmarks?

Opening multiple applications?

Speed differences between 32Bit and 64Bit?

I hope this was a mistake on the posting of the article, because this cant be a full article at all!

I expect more!

Badge that was Scotteq above who tried this, not me. I have not tried it myself. I hibernate every night. I don't care how long it takes to shutdown that way as I just walk away while it's shutting down. As for startup, my system starts up MUCH faster after hibernate than it does from a reboot. About 40 seconds to desktop which is already fully loaded with sidebar and everything else that was previously loaded.

I have 6 gig RAM (though I am moving to 8 as soon as my new RAM comes in) and I really don't care about losing 6 gig HD space, or even 8. I have massive extra HD space though. Several TB over various drives.

Though I can see that with a Raptor this might well be good thing for you.

Scotteq, did implementing the run command turning hibernation files off free up space on your hard drive? My system already boots to windows fast, but I'm missing approximately 8 gigs of hard drive space I have never been abole to find. I've searched for it many times without finding where it possibly is until today.

Amen, how about some real life data?

Where is the rest of the article?

I have 64 bit Vista with 4 gigs ram and would go to 8 if i had some actual data that supported this would be to my benefit...

Oh and I love how a ton of people say the article sucks and we get no reply from Toms guys... Guess they dont look at their forums?

I met a couple of these guys a few years back at Million Man Lan and they seemed very full of themselves, guess they felt they were "l337" hardware reveiwers that Pwned us miserable users...

Why would anyone want to shell out almost 600 bucks on Windows "Ultimate"?

If you want to take real advantage of 8 gigs of memory do the following:

1. Install Ubuntu 64 bit edition. Then install Wine and run your Windows applications that way. You can keep Vista on there if you'd like, and dual boot the system.

2. Buy a Mac. Leopard fully supports 64 bit software applications, and has a much better 32 bit emulation built into it.

It's good to see Microsoft finally coming to the 64 bit bandwagon, it's sure taken them long enough. However with the driver issues alone, that makes that 300 - 500 dollars you're shelling out for an OS that may or may not run your programs very expensive.

Badge - Not yet... But I'm gonna. I merely pointed out that my system is fast enough that it boots from cold faster than from Hibernate. I don't need the room (1TB HDD), but I'll run the command anyhow to see... In your case, I would definitely run it since you're much more strapped for the space.

Scott

Gee, most users will have to replace their motherboards and RAM just to experience 64-bit Vista nirvana? SHeesh. XP Pro seem to deliver great performance just fine already. Oh it's all about the Dirtect X 10 gaming for the hassle? Please.

You don't need to buy Ultimate to do this. ANY retail version will do. XP 64 has been around for years so MS is not just getting to the 64 bit bandwagon.

And an upgrade ver of Ultimate is $259 from MS, $195 Amazon. $159 for home premium 64.

Linux FUD. LOL