Will 64-bit or 32-Bi be better for my card?

[Antigravity]

So on the specs, the E6750 is 64-bit compatible.

I have just built a new computer with this processor and I am wondering if going 64-bit before the Vista jump is worth it? Anyone have any thoughts?

And what will the ramifications be on my graphics card?

I have a Vanilla EVGA 8800GTS 320mb.

 

[emp]

I have an eVGA 8800GTS 320mb too on Vista 64 Ultimate (have been using XP SP2 32-bit for the past 2 weeks though) and I can tell you it has no ramifications whatsoever, just that you won't have to find a new OS when the time comes that you need more than 4GB of ram. I can tell you that GRAW2 and CoH are running the same under Vista 64 ultimate as if they were under XP with the newest beta drivers for Vista 64 (162.22), I benchmarked it myself with my GTS, using XP beta drivers 162.18 too.

Overall I think the drivers have come a LOOOONG way, from having nearly a 50% performance hit to offering the same performance, and I somehow have the feeling that M$ might have been onto something when they said gaming was in mind when they made vista and that games would actually run better. I just hope Im not wrong. One thing hasn't changed though, you need 2GB of ram to be a happy man (but it's the same on XP too), if you have the choice go for a 64-bit OS... you won't regret it.

 

[mrmez]

Interesting...
So with 64bit, be it XP or Vista, do u still have issues of not getting ANY s/ware or drivers for 64?
If u did go 64... xp or vista?
Im a 64bit newbzor!

 

[blashyrkh]

I believe you should wait for 128-bit processors to come out and install MS Longhorn 128-bit edition. That would be cool...
Science fiction is nice!

 

[emp]

I haven't had any of the so called compatibility issues to be honest. I'm just happy with the way it is now (If I could get my hands on a XP 64 copy then I'd also try it on, but vista 64 does the trick for me)

 

[vertigo_2000]

I haven't had very many issues with Vista 64 either... some games don't work properly... HL2 freezes randomly and I'm having problems with BF2 (can't play at all, but I'm working on it ), but that's all. BF2142 works perfectly. Day of Defeat: Source is nice. I bought Shadow Run and it's beautiful.

 

[harmattan]

I've been using Vista Premium 64-bit for a couple of weeks now. I have had to scour for some updated drivers (HD back-up, Saitek X52, Forceware), but my experience has generally been very good. The OS itself actually does seem more stable than XP: much less crashing in IE, apps not responding etc. Also, some programs are noticeably snappier on 64-bit - ProTools and RDP come to mind. Of course, you have the added benefit of being able to use a full 4GB+ of RAM and have apps allocate over 2GB, which will become more and more important.

TWO MAJOR CAUTIONS:
1) Many people, if not all, with 8800's and Vista 64 have been getting intermittant driver failures where the screen flashes and returns. You will almost definitely experience this. More info here: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=25381&st=1480 . Nvidia and MS have been aware of this issue since Jan., but are unwilling/unable to fix it. There's actually a class-action suit in the works, lol. I was getting these errors, but disabled Aero (which is pretty much worthless fluff imo), and it stopped. Now my UI looks like Windows 3.1

2) If you use iTunes, it will not install out of the box in 64 (wtf?). You need to do some cmt redirection, which can be tricky if not familiar. iPhone software doesn't work at all.

Edit: In terms of gaming, I've had great experiences. Stalker, SupComm, World in Conflict Beta, and Fear all run perfectly with no noticable difference in performance or stability from XP. I'd agree with the poster above in that nV is finally getting there act together with drivers. Now we just have to wait for real DX10 games to see how well 8800 and Vista 64 performs...

 

[ryanthesav]

while most programs dont even use 64 bit processors...and there are no drivers available anyways...and the comp will need more than 4gb of ram to even ruun...just stay with 32 until u really need 64...which will be in like 5 years.

 

[emp]

I was already reading on the InCrysis forums that Crysis would not only take advantage of the multi-core CPUs BUT will also take advantage if you're running it in a 64-bit environment!

 

[Antigravity]

So is Vista going to be ok for my 8800GTS? I don't see the need to run 64-bit, but I am wanting to play Halo2 over Live with it....

Anything else that uses DirectX10 out yet? Or should I just wait for drivers to be worth a crap on the Vista OS?

 

[harmattan]

while most programs dont even use 64 bit processors...and there are no drivers available anyways...and the comp will need more than 4gb of ram to even ruun...just stay with 32 until u really need 64...which will be in like 5 years.

Yep, from the official spec requirements:

"Crysis takes advantage of 64-bit processors although only by using a 64-bit operating system such as Windows XP Pro 64-bit edition or Windows Vista 64-bit edition. "

I'm assuming that means it will run in native x64 (without emulation) and be able to use more than 2GB of RAM. The E3 demos were running on machines with 4GB. I wonder if that suggests the demos were also running 64-bit...?