[Preemo]

The age old question. Which bit are you guys running?

The focus of my computer usage has shifted to graphic and web development, photo retouching and possible video work in the near future.

I'm currently running an E8400 with 4GB of RAM at the moment. I just want to know how the transition was and if it was worth it? Software issues? Alternatives? I'm running all newer hardware, so obsolete drivers are not an issue. RAM is dirt cheap at the moment ... even for performance RAM!

[Razor Ramon HG]

x64

[ienhz]

If you have 4gb already, there's no reason not to get 64 bit.

[roastpuff]

x64 yo.

[Eclypz]

x64 on my laptop

[way2quik]

64 bit on desktop.
Also E8400.

[Jmac]

They should just kill 32-bit already. The only reason it's still around is for legacy hardware and software that 99% of people don't use ...

[MikeyStyle]

64-bit

[kchan]

is windows 7 already out? thought it was around oct.
but i guess leaked/beta versions are floating around already..

professional or ultimate?

[asian_XL]

release to manufacturer (RTM) version is out and it has been cracked
immediately. So there are some pirated full version win7 out there.

I am using x64 as well, I find it difficult to use as much as vista, especially
when you are setting it up to your own preference. It took me 2 months to
get use to it. If you want to use it to do photoeditting, web developing, or
something else but gaming, my suggestion would be stay away. Use
something that you are familiar with.

[SkinnyPupp]

There is no reason at all for anyone to use 32-bit anymore.

[ienhz]

you can get win7 for free if you're a comp sci student too. most schools have an MSDNAA program. i know SFU has win 7 pro on it now but i'm a business student.

[nabs]

i got windows 7 for free from BCIT MSDNAA. =D

x64!

[underscore]

7 RC is free til June anyways...

[bloodmack]

64 bit, I got 8gb of ram e400 OC'd to 4.2GHZ GTX295 750i ftw mobo great setup. windows 7 uses on avg 1.6gb with my background programs running, compared to windows vista x64 where it would use roughly 3.6gb.

[Preemo]

I was planning on upgrading my RAM too. NCIX has a great deal on RAM. But then again I think it's been the same price as a few months ago. LOL!

Well, I've upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit. So far only 2 programs didn't install properly at all. I guess it's a small sacrifice now that I can utilize all my RAM.

[!SG]

there is, if u have a perfectly running avertv pci tv tuner card that worked great in xp!

oh well... it was good while it lasted... the 9 years.

There is no reason at all for anyone to use 32-bit anymore.

[!SG]

computer took a major dump. upgraded to windows 7 64bit (as i built my comp right when vista came out and 64bit was optional.)

so far no major problems, a few older programs i used needed to find their newer upgraded versions.

some old peripherals are useless now as i highly doubt they will even put out any 64bit drivers. other than that, im finding it a lot faster.

my mobo is maxed out at 4G's of ram.

some programs i use dont have a digitial signature on them and windows 7 doesnt give u the option of running them.

[trd2343]

i got windows 7 for free from BCIT MSDNAA. =D

x64!

Do you have to be in a specific program to get this?

[lilaznviper]

you have to be in a computer technology program

[Preemo]

It's actually not bad. I am liking the new Windows 7 a lot more than any other OS I have used. Software issues ... none really. I thought there would be some issues running 32-bit stuff but surprisingly, all is like butter.

[EDawg]

x64 ultimate.

was running 32-bit vista previously, i see a huge increase in performance now :D

[.Renn.Sport]

windows 7 doesnt work in china :(

[asian_XL]

^ why is that?

[.Renn.Sport]

windows 7 looks up DNS differently compare to XP or vista

and china don't seem to like that

i could randomly go online once in a while, but i'll get DNS error. this does not happen in HK

[SkinnyPupp]

computer took a major dump. upgraded to windows 7 64bit (as i built my comp right when vista came out and 64bit was optional.)

so far no major problems, a few older programs i used needed to find their newer upgraded versions.

some old peripherals are useless now as i highly doubt they will even put out any 64bit drivers. other than that, im finding it a lot faster.

my mobo is maxed out at 4G's of ram.

some programs i use dont have a digitial signature on them and windows 7 doesnt give u the option of running them.
What do you have that do not have 64 bit drivers? I know a lot of Linksys products don't have drivers newer than 3 years old, even though they still sell the products in stores.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

window 7 is available now?

how much is the software

[syee]

Most of the time, if you can't find a 64 bit driver for Windows 7, you can get by with the Vista version of the driver. Might come in handy for instances where the manufacturer hasn't created a Windows 7 driver yet.

One problem I've had with using any 64 bit OS - there's still some manufacturers that haven't developed their applications to work on a 64 bit OS - namely Western Digital's disk diag apps...It's a bit annoying having to keep a drive with a 32 bit OS on there to run certain apps...

[Jmac]

What do you have that do not have 64 bit drivers? I know a lot of Linksys products don't have drivers newer than 3 years old, even though they still sell the products in stores. They don't even have VISTA drivers for some of their products they sell in store. Practically nothing they have supports 64-bit.

Cisco/Linksys is a lazy, lazy, lazy company.

[!SG]

try this...

avertv
soundblaster live 5.1

:D

both pretty much stopped carrying support. both are old... i mean pci card old, i mean 01 old!

funny thing, i installed another antispyware program last night and as it rebooted, bam, black screen of death w/ white mouse cursor...

couldnt reset to an old config as the system was up for less than 24hrs, and safemode just got me a lower resolution, bigger mouse cursor version of the same black screen...


What do you have that do not have 64 bit drivers? I know a lot of Linksys products don't have drivers newer than 3 years old, even though they still sell the products in stores.

[SkinnyPupp]

Yeah I wouldn't expect 9-10 year old hardware to work with today's systems at all. That even predates 64-bit home desktop processors :lol

[!SG]

hahaha...

its ok, the avertv card was old... it used an external audio output, which is why i needed the soundblaster, as my onboard realtek has a hardware issue (apparently a lot of ppl have the same issue) where the "line in" wasnt working.

now i got rid of the aver tv AND the soundblaster audio card, makes things less cluttered

[lilaznviper]

getting my msdn account activated at school so i can get windows 7 64bit LEGIT

[DragonChi]

word on using vista drivers for w7.
I did that for my dell D630. I also was able to use the e6400 touchpad drivers, since there were no x64 vista drivers available.

[trd2343]

Sorry for my ignorance, but what's the difference between 32bit and 64bit?

Right now, I'm using Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz with 2.00 GB RAM running Windows 7 32bit RC. At the moment, everything runs quite smoothly (by my standards), so should I upgrade to 64bit?

I use my computer mainly for word processing, internet, and occasionally games and movies (though I find that the computer lags when playing newer games or when watching HD movies)

[way2quik]

The minimum requirements to run W7 is roughly 1Ghz, 1GB ram 128mb gpu?
Depends if your CPU supports 64bit.

For those worrying about W7 drivers and those who have a SoundMAX audio drivers are SOL. There is a 'latest' driver out on the web, but dated back in 2008 which does prevent crashes.
It's no wonder people always look for RealTek; always updates their drivers.

[lilaznviper]

installed x64 on my laptop and current having so much problems installing drivers for it
all the drivers i donwloaded off hp for vista64 are corrupt

[SkinnyPupp]

Sorry for my ignorance, but what's the difference between 32bit and 64bit?

Right now, I'm using Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz with 2.00 GB RAM running Windows 7 32bit RC. At the moment, everything runs quite smoothly (by my standards), so should I upgrade to 64bit?

I use my computer mainly for word processing, internet, and occasionally games and movies (though I find that the computer lags when playing newer games or when watching HD movies)
No, it wouldn't make a difference now. But when you do install the final version, you can go either way. With 2GB of ram, it won't make much of a difference either way.

[dual]

I'm about to upgrade too but I'd like to know some things first.

1. Would 64 bit drain the battery faster than a 32 bit? Would 64 bit make the processor work harder?

2. Is the requirements for Aero in W7 lower than Aero for Vista? My IGP can barely run Vista Aero with transparency and I want to know if it will be better in W7.

[.Renn.Sport]

No, it wouldn't make a difference now. But when you do install the final version, you can go either way. With 2GB of ram, it won't make much of a difference either way.

yea, biggest advantage of 64bit right now is running over 4GB of ram. its quite a bit faster running 64bit programs also. but no regular computer users will take advantage of the 64bit programs. 99% of the programs are 32bit anyways.

if u are running a DDR2 system.... it would be stupid to have anything less then 4GB ram with ram prices so low nowadays

[SkinnyPupp]

64-bit programs aren't always faster

[trd2343]

Just in terms of speed, 64bit won't be slower than a 32bit if your computer supports it, right?

My sister got a HP from Futureshop in Jan., and we were surprised that it was a 64bit Vista. But everything works on it, or at least the software that we use. So I'm not worried about software or hardware issue.

Rather, I heard (yea, you can't believe everything you hear), that although 64bit is faster, it uses more RAM in general (ie even during idle) :confused:. That's why I'm just making sure that installing 64bit can't make your computer slower than it was on 32bit.

[!SG]

ram is so cheap these days, there is no reason not to be running with extra ram, unless ur board is so old then there is no reason to upgrade the os.

[SkinnyPupp]

you can't believe everything you hear

That.

[.Renn.Sport]

vista and windows 7 will use more ram when u have more available ram in your system. they will put a lot of stuff in the superfetch to make use of your available memory

[Preemo]

ram is so cheap these days, there is no reason not to be running with extra ram, unless ur board is so old then there is no reason to upgrade the os.

Amen! I'm starting to feel that 4GB is inadequate but then again, my PSD's never reach over 100MB and my rig is used for coding, most of the time.




...


And the occasional TF2!

[wasabisashimi]

but no regular computer users will take advantage of the 64bit programs. 99% of the programs are 32bit anyways.



So what is the point of running at 64bit installation if 99% programs are made for 32bit. Wouldn't 64bit installation just gives you more chance of crashing with incompatible drivers and hardware?


For an internet browsing and average gamer. Wouldn't 32bit enough and it rules out the chance of driver updates and other hassles.

[El Bastardo]

I'm running Win7 Home Premium on my Wind u90. Its the 32 bit edition and because I'm not doing heavy duty things on it its working fine for me. I max out at 2gb ram and have a 1.6ghz processor its doing fine for me. The Home Premium install is relatively small in size and to be honest is probably best for people wanting to update old laptops or upgrade their netbooks.

Even tho I'm running the Aero theme I have no problems with it and everything I've plugged into it has been entirely plug and play including the onboard hardware.




Honestly, don't count out the 32bit version. Especially if you want to breathe new life into an older machine.

[SkinnyPupp]

Let's go back to the root of things:

There is no reason not to use 64-bit. Even if all the programs you use are 32-bit. It's no more expensive, it's no slower, etc. Just use it if you are building a new system and leave it at that.

[Razor Ramon HG]

For me, I didn't have any problems with Vista x64, neither do I now with Windows 7 x64, so I always recommend it over x86 if someone's computer can support it.

[twitchyzero]

bump
i just made the transition from xp pro sp2 x86 to win7 ultimate x64
so far everything is okay, but when i try to play steam games it's unstable.

MW2 the fonts are just blocks of artifacts, had the same issue when i first installed the game in xp but i just updated display driver and issue was solved.

Now in win7 mw2 is messed up with the fonts thing, when i click Play it just crashes to desktop, and everytime i finish loading a l4d2 game the sound loops at the server info screen and i have to hard reset the comp (occasionally it's BSOD).

I have an older ati card (x1950pro), 4gb ddr2 and p5w dh deluxe w/ C2D 1.86ghz. I've tried installing the latest driver and the old driver that came w/ the CD and both have the same issues.

This is getting so frustrating! I didnt switch to x64 in vista because of this and now I really want it to work (don't wanna get stuck in stone-age XP)

edit: also the driver incompability issue causes my monitor setting to be at 59Hz. Even when i select 60Hz and press apply, when i close the settings window and i go back it'll show 59Hz.

[.Renn.Sport]

bump
Now in win7 mw2 is messed up with the fonts thing, when i click Play it just crashes to desktop, and everytime i finish loading a l4d2 game the sound loops at the server info screen and i have to hard reset the comp (occasionally it's BSOD).

I have an older ati card (x1950pro), 4gb ddr2 and p5w dh deluxe w/ C2D 1.86ghz. I've tried installing the latest driver and the old driver that came w/ the CD and both have the same issues.

This is getting so frustrating! I didnt switch to x64 in vista because of this and now I really want it to work (don't wanna get stuck in stone-age XP)

PC gaming FTL
this is exactly the reason games should be played on console.... at least it works :haha:

[SkinnyPupp]

Sounds like your video card is overheating. Clean out the heatsink, check to make sure it's seated properly.

Playing MW2 with a 1950 pro though... lol why bother? ;)

[twitchyzero]

Sounds like your video card is overheating. Clean out the heatsink, check to make sure it's seated properly.

Seated properly, just cleaned it out yesterday so fan is dust-free. Sufficiently powered as always.

I still feel like it's a driver issue being that i couldn't change the monitor refresh rate to 60hz (jumps back to 59Hz). Once the crash gave a monitor error msg saying it's out of range.

And in the past occasionally when i reboot my computer i would get pink noise/artifacts across the screen. I would just turn my monitor on/off to get resolve it. Would that be the monitor dying or the GPU failing?

I guess I can try downloading the 2nd most up-to-date driver...

Playing MW2 with a 1950 pro though... lol why bother? ;)
student budget, I'll upgrade my comp when SC2 comes out okay :lol
hopefully DX11 cards will be more affordable next boxing day.

[SkinnyPupp]

If you're still getting artifacts on screen, and it's not overheating, the video card is probably dying.

But then turning off the monitor shouldn't affect it at all, so I don't know. What you are describing shouldn't be happening. The only way to test it I guess, would be to try it on a different monitor.

[JF.]

i have 64bit. how come i cant download adobe flash player?

[SkinnyPupp]

Download it with a 32-bit browser

[Jmac]

Adobe doesn't support 64-bit browsers with Flash yet.

As for the X1950 problem, it looks like newer drivers have this problem (at least from what I saw using Google). It seems as if people are having the best luck with Catalyst 9.3 drivers with that card and game.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/9-3/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx?&lang=English

[twitchyzero]

I had unstalled the driver that came w/ the CD, downloaded the latest one, worked before but now just gives me an .inf file not found...deleted everything then tried again and it would get stuck half way through detecting hardware or installing the install manager...

So i scrapped that then reinstalled the one that came w/ CD again, and now i can't load into Win7 (gets stuck at Loading windows splash screen) with the window sign and black bg.

What's messsed up was the last few days my suspend button in start was GREY'D OUT..which i thought was super odd since i didn't mess with any settings or BIOS..wtf

I'm going to reinstall Win 7 again...if still gives me trouble I'll just resort back to last the stone-age 32-bit technology...

[twitchyzero]

thanks jmac i'll give that a try
odd how that version didn't show up when i chose my card...guess cause it's only a beta? Pretty confusing the one you gave me is 9.3 and the one causing my headache was a 9.11 yet it's 6 months newer than the one you linked me?
Could you also link me to the discussion where you read on google? my search didn't yield good results.

Oh pretty frustrating how you select win7 x64 and they bring you to a vista x64 driver...I know they are usually interchangable but why not optimize it already...

[!SG]

win7 64bit if your computer can run 64bit

and you can still run 32bit programs. all you have to do is right mouse click on the installer, go to properties and "treat the file as" a winxp 32bit program.

done!

[Hehe]

win7 64bit if your computer can run 64bit

and you can still run 32bit programs. all you have to do is right mouse click on the installer, go to properties and "treat the file as" a winxp 32bit program.

done!

You don't always need to do the XP compatibility. All 32bit app will run naturally under 64bit win7.

IMO, only run 64bit if you have memory capacity larger than 3.2GB. Anything beyond that is not manageable under 32bit

[John]

There really is no disadvantage to running W7 x64 over x86, so why not run it? In past, people ran x86 because the driver support for x64 was poor. For W7, the driver support for either is the same.

Personally, I run XP 32 bit and will do so for some time. The advantages of W7 are eye candy that I can do without. The hardware and software compatibility for XP is better than W7. With W7 I lose hardware support for my webcam, scanner, and steering wheel. These are items that I don't feel like upgrading, and work fine for my needs. I also found software compatibility problems with Acrobat. I have W7 on my torrent computer, so I can become familiar with it. That's enough to satisfy curiosity.

I predict that XP will remain prevalent in businesses for many years to come. There is no ROI or productivity gain from switching to W7. This was the same for Vista.

[Graeme S]

I predict that XP will remain prevalent in businesses for many years to come. There is no ROI or productivity gain from switching to W7. This was the same for Vista.

Except when MS stops supporting XP in...'11? '12?
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

[John]

The XP security patches cease in April 2014. This is longer than I can plan for. It's probably 2 or 3 computer upgrades away for me.

I also for got to mention that some of my wireless network adapter also don't work with W7. I find it disappointing that large reputable manufacturers like Cisco continues to sell adapters that don't include drivers for W7. for example...
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WMP54G?lid=LearnMore
Microsoft also failed to include a driver in the W7 OS. Things like this make the adoption of new operating systems slow and bothersome.