32-bit or 64-bit for gaming

[katorga]

Is your game 64bit?

XP 32bit can see around 3GB of ram. Vista 64 can see more than 3GB.

If your game is 32bit, it can only use 2GB, no matter which OS you use.

If you can is 64bit it can see more than 2GB only if you run a 64bit OS.

 

[Stridder44]

XP 32bit can see around 3GB of ram. Vista 64 can see more than 3GB.

If your game is 32bit, it can only use 2GB, no matter which OS you use.

If you can is 64bit it can see more than 2GB only if you run a 64bit OS.

4GB of RAM and Age of Conan = sex.

 

[apeguero]

XP 32bit can see around 3GB of ram. Vista 64 can see more than 3GB.

If your game is 32bit, it can only use 2GB, no matter which OS you use.

If you can is 64bit it can see more than 2GB only if you run a 64bit OS.

But if you have, let's say, 11gigs of RAM and you fire up Crysis, does Vista 64 automatically assign it the full 2gigs of RAM and the rest can be used to power up everything else including the OS itself? That's the situation I'm in. I actually found a nice bump up in performance when I switched from Vista 32 to Vista 64. But, not just Crysis, also MS Flight Sim X runs a lot smoother with graphics settings set a little higher. Before, I was not able to run it with Anti-Aliasing selected from within the game (like 1FPS), now I am (really smooth). What's the cause of that? My system didn't change. It's still a 2006 MacPro with 1TB HDD, NVidia 8800GT with latest drivers, 11GB or RAM, yada-yada-yada.

 

[stainlessliquid]

Crysis is a 64bit game and can use all the ram you have. There was also a 64bit version of Far Cry which had exclusive graphic effects.

 

[apeguero]

Crysis is a 64bit game and can use all the ram you have. There was also a 64bit version of Far Cry which had exclusive graphic effects.

Cool!

 

[Siron]

So after looking at those articles it appears that it is not so much a performance gain between the two OSs, but simply how much memory is addressed.

I guess I'm not convinced at this point that it is worth $300 to buy the 64-bit version when I can use a free 32-bit Vista Business version and get basically the same performance.

It's not $300. Go to an online store such as ZIPZOOMFLY.com and get the OEM version of Vista Business 64 for around $120. You don't need the retail version (unless you intend to call MS every week for tech support) although it does have both 32 and 64 versions (Business or Ultimate that is). With the OEM version you cannot upgrade to the 64 bit version for $10 like you can do with the retail ones, so get 64 bit otherwise if you do intend to go 64 eventually you will not have to buy another version.