Best choice for Windows?

[rspaulding]

What is the best choice right now for stability, compatibility, performace, and future use?

■XP Pro 64-bit
■XP Pro 32-bit
■Vista Ultimate 64-bit
■Vista Ultimate 32-bit

SPECS:
■GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813128059
■Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029
■G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820231122
■EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

I would like to be able to use more than 4GB of RAM in the future (which only x64 offers) but I am worried about all the compatibility issues I hear about in x64.

 

[notherdude]

64 works fine now, minor incompatibilities depending on your use, by and large you'll never know the difference. Vista 64 works GREAT, especially on new and powerful systems, despite what agenda driven haters are saying. Might as well buy the future.

 

[rspaulding]

Yeah, I'm with you!
But I do mostly home studio recording which involves a lot of different programs with a lot of different plug-ins and VST's and whatnot and its sometimes hard to track down the details of their 64 bit compatibility.

How does vista 64 handle gaming? I hear it can actually run slower than 32 bit OS's?

 

[notherdude]

I've tried to get to the bottom of the supposed performance hit when running 32 bit apps under 64 and it's either not there at all or else very minor and in some cases 64 is faster. The gaming benchmarks are all about the same 64 vs. 32. Bottom line is compatibility for you - you need to research your stuff with people who use the same software or else the manufacturer.

The real benefit of 64 bit is using a lot of RAM. I run 8 gig myself. If running 4 or more gig is not important to you then 32 bit may be the safest bet

 

[jeffdawgfan]

Go with Vista 64. Get 8gb of memory and turn page filing off. You have newer hardware so should not have any problems. Gaming is definately better in Vista 64. I have seen some tests that show Crysis actually runs about 12-18% faster in Vista 64 over Vista 32. I also noticed considerable speed gains when I turned off page filing. Make sure your memory is very well matched if you are using 4 modules. You will probaly have to bump voltage and relax settings somewhat but the 8gb makes up for the difference.

 

[LoneEagle]

I have Vista64 and happy. future is 64 anyway

 

[rspaulding]

should I turn page filing off when using 4gb in 32 bit XP?

 

[Zoron]

You shouldn't turn off the page file at all... no matter how much RAM you have. Some programs allocate huge amounts of memory for themselves... even if they don't actually use the memory. If you have a few of these programs running, your RAM will fill up very quickly unless you have a page file. You'll end up with a performance hit instead of a performance improvement... turning off the page file does nothing to help performance.

 

[LoneEagle]

I tried to turn off my Page File but ran into some trouble. So I started low and increased the value until stable. I ended at 512MB for a machine with 4GB and Vista 64. Its really great for me and fast because it's not really used. When I play a game and quit, Vista is responsive right away (no slow restore from HDD).

 

[grindking134]

I have zero problems with vista64 ultimate. The only thing I ever really had a problem with was itunes but they make a vista64 version now so all is good. Do you run any specific programs that you abosolutly need?

 

[rspaulding]

yeah, I run a lot of music recording apps... Line 6's Gearbox which as I understand does not support x64... Cubase SX 3.1.1... BFD2

ADOBE photoshop CS2/illustrator CS2/Premiere 7/Dreamweaver CS3
games too.. BF2, HL2