32bit or 64bit OS ? whats better ?

Post by **hurenBock** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:44 pm

hi

the cpu i have supports 64 bit technology ( e2160 )

so... can i install winXP 64 Bit OS ?
and wheres the diffrence using a 32bit or 64bit OS ?

all i want to know is...will i have performance increase in games and/or in general

NE0 · Post by **NE0** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:07 pm

Wait for 128

Post by **hfric** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:00 pm

for what ? games

32bit ain't compatible with 64bit , just try to run Black&White 2 on it .....
to gain what ? 32bit 3,5gig ram max , 64bit 8 gig ram max ....
if you are a computer graphic / internet web page designer / game programmer / movie editor and other stuff not game like then go for it ,
but if you are a gamer then stay with 32bit ....

Post by AD » Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:56 am

In games:
A few games, especially optimized/patched, were reported to run faster on 64-bit OS's. I read about NFS:MW, for instance.

In general:
Depends on the app. Mustdie states that 64-bit OS can have an advantage in video and DB. It's great for factorials and large numbers.

The major problem is 32-bit apps aren't guaranteed to run and generally you'll have to get 64bit (compatible) software for a 64bit system, including drivers for all your hardware (mandatory).

You can always test drive 64-bit OS to figure yourseft if it's suitable for your needs.

hfric wrote:64bit 8 gig ram max

You mean 128GB RAM max?

Post by **hfric** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:51 am

128GB RAM if you find ram like that

and have enough slots in your motherboard

Post by **InsaneFury** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:59 pm

Basically I was thinking of going 64-Bit as I have 4GB RAM installed whereas WinXP 32-bit can only effectively use about 3.5GB of that.

I heard Win-64 has 'backward emulation' of 32-Bit, something which I am a bit sceptic of. After all, Windows XP should be backward compatible with Windows 98 and 95.

However after reading that the 64-bit edition *requires* signed 64-bit drivers for the OS, I'm probably abandoning that idea as I will have less freedom to choose what I want installed on my PC.

Narfous · Post by **Narfous** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:41 am

a 48-bit os

Post by **zobraks** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:49 am

Narfous wrote:a 48-bit os

I could see this one coming.

This is the right answer for a question like this.

Post by **hurenBock** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:34 pm

yeah the thing with getting everything special for 64bit suxs

Post by **Tadrio** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:28 am

Is backwards-compatibility really that bad? The CPUs have a compatibility mode that should run 16-bit and 32-bit code like on the real thing. And the same should go for operating systems. Officially, it would have to be very, very bad luck if a 32-bit game wouldn't run on a 64-bit system.

Does anyone have hands-on experience?

Narfous · Post by **Narfous** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:44 am

Tadrio wrote:Is backwards-compatibility really that bad?

no
you'll only miss the 16-bit stuff

Post by **Tadrio** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:58 pm

It wouldn't be too bad then. Most of the 16-bit stuff should work in either DOSBox or a virtual machine...
the ones I'm always worried about ar the 32-bit games that require 3D acceleration, as Virtual PC doesn't provide that and they therefore should run natively.