Why do I have 64-bit Vista? Is this a waste of a x64 system?

[Dougx1317]

I recently made the leap from Vista 32-bit to 64-bit. I had gotten really excited about finally make the switch to 64-bit, but now I don't know why. I only have 2GB of RAM, so RAM size won't matter until I upgrade to 4GB+. The only 64-bit program I could find is Itunes. I couldn't even find a 64-bit version of Firefox. Am I missing something? Why did I upgrade to Vista x64?

 

[notherdude]

Well, unless you are going to use 4 or more gig of ram there was no compelling reason to switch, not now anyway, maybe later when more 64 bit apps come out. It appears you were misinformed, if you were hoping for much more than that.

So now, to feel good about the switch, you will just need to go ahead and get a lot of ram - I'm running 8 gig myself. This is why most of us have gone to 64 bit.

 

[br3nd064]

There's really no reason to switch if you have less than 4gb of ram. You don't need 64bit program to run on vista x64. Programs that fully support 64bit will just run quicker on it.

 

[Dougx1317]

Well, I guess I'm prepared for the future. I just thought there were more 64-bit programs out already.

Also, I have 2GB of RAM and I'm using 55% of it while idol. With 32-bit, I only used about 35%. Is this normal? Does this mean that 64-bit may actually be slower, since I have less RAM?

My hardware monitor shows that I'm running a few degrees warmer than before. It's only about 5C or less, but is this caused by 64-bit?

 

[notherdude]

I doubt very seriously 64 bit will consume much more idle ram, maybe a tad, that's probably something else to blame.

- extra heat? I've seen or heard of no evidence of that at all. Could be the PC is re-indexing files on the new install? Or some other reason - heat goes up and down depending on a lot of factors.

 

[4Ryan6]

Well, I guess I'm prepared for the future. I just thought there were more 64-bit programs out already.

Also, I have 2GB of RAM and I'm using 55% of it while idol. With 32-bit, I only used about 35%. Is this normal? Does this mean that 64-bit may actually be slower, since I have less RAM?

My hardware monitor shows that I'm running a few degrees warmer than before. It's only about 5C or less, but is this caused by 64-bit?

The increase in heat is probably because the 64bit OP/SYS uses the second core more than the 32bit OP/SYS does, if you have a dual core CPU, that usage will increase your overall CPU heat.

You'll be much better off with at least 4G of RAM with Vista64, if thats in your budget.

 

[4Ryan6]

I'm running 8 gig myself. This is why most of us have gone to 64 bit.

Since you have 8G of RAM, have you run any performance comparisons between the different amounts of RAM?

You're running 4 2G sticks? Right?

What benefits do you gain from that much RAM?

Does it benefit gaming?

Or is your use completely different like CAD design or Graphic design?

Was getting the timings dialed in properly for the full 8G a problem?

I hope you don't mind me asking you these questions notherdude, I'm curious?

And my apologies to the OP for the thread HiJack!

 

[Dougx1317]

the 64bit OP/SYS uses the second core more than the 32bit OP/SYS does

I do notice the Core 2 going up quite a bit. Does this mean that it's faster if it uses more of the processor? And just a point of interest, the temps dropped significantly after installing the SP1. It is still using much more RAM than 32-bit.

Since you have 8G of RAM, have you run any performance comparisons between the different amounts of RAM?

I'd like to see those too. I have only two RAM slots, both full, so it'll be $65 to upgrade to 4GB. I'd love to see some benchmarks showing what I'd get for $65.

And my apologies to the OP for the thread HiJack!

You are forgiven.

 

[4Ryan6]

I do notice the Core 2 going up quite a bit. Does this mean that it's faster if it uses more of the processor? And just a point of interest, the temps dropped significantly after installing the SP1. It is still using much more RAM than 32-bit.

Well the second core could be handling background functions while the first core is dealing with the open application so whether faster or more efficient, you'd really have to know for sure what each core was actually working on, and yes the 64bit is definitely using more ram than the 32bit.

 

[notherdude]

Since you have 8G of RAM, have you run any performance comparisons between the different amounts of RAM?

You're running 4 2G sticks? Right?

What benefits do you gain from that much RAM?

Does it benefit gaming?

Or is your use completely different like CAD design or Graphic design?

Was getting the timings dialed in properly for the full 8G a problem?

I hope you don't mind me asking you these questions notherdude, I'm curious?

And my apologies to the OP for the thread HiJack!

I got 8 gig because it was cheap. As far as benefits I have never tried to measure it. About the only thing I know it helps me with is running multiple VMs.

I would be shocked to find out that just going to 64 bit would raise temps by 5c - I'm pretty sure something else is going on there.

As far as memory usage 64 vs. 32 I posed this question to Ed Bott at Zdnet and according to his testing 64 was consuming about 12 -15% more ram while running the same load. From what I have read this issue is not all that well documented and you get various opinions on it. It can depend on the code and how it uses pointers. I'm not much of a programmer myself so I cannot supply details.

One commenter confessed to being confused by conflicting information he’s read. Vista x64 does indeed use more memory than its 32-bit cousin, but in my tests on a dual-boot system I found the difference to be about 12-15 percent for the operating system and its essential services.

I have one test machine that’s ideally suited for this purposes, being equipped with 4GB of RAM, two hard disks, and separate installations of x86 and x64 Vista Ultimate running on separate drives. On this test platform, I found that the x64 machine consistently uses roughly 1.05GB of RAM after startup, while its x86 counterpart uses 935MB to run roughly the same number of processes. (These numbers are consistent on other systems as well.) On the x86 machine, the top 11 processes use 220MB of RAM, while the same group of processes at the top of the x64 list use 251MB.

Measuring memory use is tricky. For example, the x64 systems occasionally grabbed extra RAM from the available pool, presumably to use in building the page file and Superfetch cache. In all cases, though, memory usage eventually retreated to a baseline level and stayed there.

Lots of good info in this read here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=511 where they also address core usage.

 

[aerolite]

Im running vista ultimate 64-bit and i idle at 1gb ram.( i dont really care cuz i got 4gig)

If your going to OC Dont get 8gigs(2x4), because issuse with voltagse with 4 sticks of ram
(64-bit)
8gig-Video editing,demanding ram tasks
4gig-gaming
2gig-low-mid gaming,internet
1gig-WHY? Very slow for 64-bit. Very basic things(cheap build)
Dont get 8 gig unless your video editing or some sort of task demanding tons of ram.
Idle:
64-bit- 700-1gig(depends on config and procceses)
32-bit- 500-700(depends on config and procceses)

 

[notherdude]

In my case getting 8 gig had no effect on my OC, same with a friend of mine, no effect at all. My system is stable at 3.45 ghz (e6600) and that's what it was when I had 2 sticks of ram too.

Could it have some effect on some systems or on getting a bleeding edge OC? Might some people need to increase voltage or timings, or even reduce ram bus speed, sure, it happens, running 4 sticks is harder on many MOBOs - but I'd be careful about getting carried away here and making blanket statements. I think we should say that it might affect your getting a maximum overclock.

Having said that I think it is true that 8 gig is overkill for most of us.

 

[maximiza]

no never a waste

 

[fgsd]

more ram is good yes, duh, i had like two in my old 32 bit xp with a faster processor, dual core 3.gig, now i have six gigs in a 64 bit vista with a dual core 2.5 proc. and almost everything, no everything runs much faster and better, from ping in online games to just moving files and searching hdds and everything else ive tried, only complaint is that 64 bit vista has compatability issues with alot of aftermarket software that has no 64 bit version also try installing a driver thats not digitally signed arg..., but thats more just a vista thing than a 64 bit thing in time it will improve