Settle a debate: how many of you use a 64-bit OS or >=4 GB RAM?

[MU_Engineer]

There is a little ongoing debate around here about OSes and RAM. I decided to conduct a little research and find out the answer, at least here on THG. So:

 

[Scotteq]

None of the above: 64 bit CPU, 64 bit OS, 4GB RAM

 

[MU_Engineer]

None of the above: 64 bit CPU, 64 bit OS, 4GB RAM

I hit "Enter" too soon and submitted a half-done poll. Try to go again.

 

[OlSkoolChopper]

I'm going to, once Intel finaly releases some CPUs later this month!

 

[geofelt]

I presume that windows includes both XP and Vista.

 

[MU_Engineer]

I presume that windows includes both XP and Vista.

It includes every version of Windows that has a 64-bit version- Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server. Windows XP also has an Itanium IA64 port, so if you are running that, check the 64-bit Windows box as well (and tell us as I've never seen anybody with an Itanium).

 

[LVDAX]

Considering that less then a handful of the THG forum users have used servers let alone multiple servers your survey will be flawed.

I have over 100 servers in house and have found that a 64-bit Redhat running more than 4GB (most of my machines run 8-32GB RAM) is far superior to the 64-bit win2k3 servers running more than 4GB of RAM.

If you are looking for a personal machine responses.
I prefer 32-bit Linux or 32-Bit Windows (Vista) with 4GB. Yes it is true that windows cannot support the full 4GB but i have run into very little issues with this setup. In my opinion the 64-bit windows OS's do not have the driver support needed to be easily used and maintained.

 

[bfellow]

Argh I misread and voted wrong one. I meant to hit 64-bit CPU with 32-bit OS

 

[Scotteq]

I hit "Enter" too soon and submitted a half-done poll. Try to go again.

MU - Thanks for the edit: Vote submitted accordingly.

And I think you may find 64 bit and 4GB categories (32 and 64 bit) to be over-represented vis~a~vis the general user population. This being an enthusiast site consisting of users with e~Peens. :lol: (and Yes, I count myself in that group...)

 

[sailer]

I have multiple computers, so the most powerful has XP64 Pro with 4 gig of ram, but two others are XP 32 bit with 2 gig of ram and one a Vista 64 that presently has 2 gig, but will be getting 4 gig later. Overall, I like the XP64 machine the best at this time, though its was limited earlier because of driver issues. I expect that during the next couple years, my XP 32 bit machines will be upgraded to either XP64 or Vista 64.

 

[MU_Engineer]

Considering that less then a handful of the THG forum users have used servers let alone multiple servers your survey will be flawed.

I was meaning this to be a desktop/laptop user survey but if you have a server in your own house (residence) count yourself in for that.

I have over 100 servers in house and have found that a 64-bit Redhat running more than 4GB (most of my machines run 8-32GB RAM) is far superior to the 64-bit win2k3 servers running more than 4GB of RAM.

The only servers I have ever dealt with didn't run Windows either. The first was a Macintosh Centris print server running MacOS 7 and hooked to a very early Apple LaserWriter and a dot-matrix but color ImageWriter. That had to be about a dozen years ago. The second was a dump of an Athlon XP 1600+ unit running Red Hat 7.3 and handled login from about 15 whitebox Athlon XP machines (mostly 2400+s), this guy's desktop (dual Athlon MP) that ran FC4, and the two number crunchers I built for him (dual 2.8 Xeon Irwindales, 4 GB RAM, FC5 64-bit and X2 5200+, 4 GB RAM, FC6 64-bit.) The third and fourth were university servers that I used for work, not worked on physically. One was a dual 2.8 Xeon Dell running RHEL 4 and the other was a dual Xeon 5060 unit with 12 GB RAM that was the head node on a 512-CPU Rocks cluster made up of 128 2Us, each with two 2.8 Paxvilles and 4 or 6 GB RAM.

 

[MU_Engineer]

And I think you may find 64 bit and 4GB categories (32 and 64 bit) to be over-represented vis~a~vis the general user population. This being an enthusiast site consisting of users with e~Peens. :lol: (and Yes, I count myself in that group...)

I think you're right WRT the general population as there are still people like my grandma that run Windows 98 on a K6-2 with 64 MB RAM. Bu tit is interesting to see what enthusiasts run. I probably should have broken down the choices between 64-bit XP and 64-bit Vista as supposedly Vista has little uptake in enthusiast circles.

 

[jaguarskx]

I recently installed another 2GB in my PC using Windows XP 32-bit; for a total of 4GB physical RAM.

I basically did it because I was getting memory allocation errors when playing a large world in Civilization IV late into the game. In the Task Manager it was using about 1.5GB of memory. I figured adding in an additional 2GB of RAM would resolve the issue but it didn't.

Note: 4GB of physical RAM, but only 3GB recognized in Windows XP 32-bit.

 

[surrealdeal]

WFW3.11 Forever! i originally had 128mb of ram, but added another 128mb because it gave me extended memory errors when i couldn't play tie fighter on WindowsME.

 

[jaguarskx]

I intended to transplant my current mobo, RAM, CPU & video card into my next HTPC and install Windows Vista 64-bit. However, after doing some research I actually might stick with Win XP Pro until 2009 when Microsoft intend to release Vista's replacement.

Hopefully, the new OS will include the features that were supposed to be in Vista, but were eventually dropped. Specifically, that would be the new filing system and security features.

 

[boduke]

Was running Vista 64 w/4GB but went back to XP 64....Vista is a$$....

 

[Turas]

wow surprised how many other 64bit windows users we had out there.

 

[Grimmy]

Currently using 2gb for XP Home 32bit.
Also Linux FC5 (one system) / FC6 (another system) both with 1gb, swap partition never gets touched.

Was thinking about getting Vista Home Prem, and run 4gb... . o O ( but but but, I still like my XP home)

 

[Scotteq]

....But it is interesting to see what enthusiasts run. I probably should have broken down the choices between 64-bit XP and 64-bit Vista as supposedly Vista has little uptake in enthusiast circles.

I totally agree on the old computer stuff - Up until the holidays, my sister's family were still running the 486 I had given them when I had replaced it.... I had forgotten all about the thing until she mentioned during the summer they were sill using it. I felt so bad I built them a new box out of a used 975XBX2 mobo I had laying around...

Regarding Vista 64, I'm pretty sure that's over represented here as well. There's a few people I can think of off the top of my head. I think it's more a matter of the people who *do* use it tending to keep their mouths shut rather than have the Windows version of the endless AMD/Intel war shoved down our throats. :lol:

 

[spuddyt]

how do i see the results? (having voted)

 

[aevm]

I'm using XP 32 with 4 GB of RAM. It sees only 3.25 GB but it's more than I need anyway. I'll buy Vista 64 after the service pack is out, if the service pack gets good reviews.

 

[MU_Engineer]

how do i see the results? (having voted)

Refresh the page.

 

[ImajorI]

My week old system below. So far so good running Crysis, Bioshock and Oblivion. On a side note I went to Circuit City to replace my work computer and they had only Vista for sale no XP computers in the store.

 

[frozenlead]

you won't get a true result from this vote. remember, all the people you are sampling are enthusiasts. we're outnumbered by other parts of the consumer market, which mainly consists of people who don't know what 64 bits are, and don't care.

 

[sailer]

you won't get a true result from this vote. remember, all the people you are sampling are enthusiasts. we're outnumbered by other parts of the consumer market, which mainly consists of people who don't know what 64 bits are, and don't care.

That's true, but if you were to count non-enthusists, you would find there are a lot of people like my daughter in law who bought a Vista 64 OS because that's what the store offered, and she got 4 gig of ram because that's what the guy in the store said was best. I think she's like the majority of buyers at Best Buy, etc. They don't know what they're buying and they really don't care, but they'll do as the salesman directs because he said that's what to buy.