Vista 64 vs XP for gaming

[Trip.Tucker]

In XP, an individual program can only access 2GB of ram, it wouldn't make much of a difference then even if the OS could see 4GB.

Correct answer. For games or most programs, 64 bit is pointless on your workstation.

 

[Tex-Twil]

Benchmarks are useless.

oh really ???!!

In computing, a benchmark is the act of running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations, in order to assess the relative performance of an object, normally by running a number of standard tests and trials against it.

If they are useless why there are so many of them ? Why in any hardware test people uses (useless) benchmarks to have an overall idea of its performance ?

 

[Joker2206]

For what? Not for games, they are 32 bit. The only benefit will be running a database engine or a 64 bit coded cad program.

+1

 

[Winni]

Go with 64-Bit Vista. Even STALKER runs great on it - and that's saying a lot, because it runs like crap on 32-Bit Vista.

Whether we like it or not, XP is now a legacy platform. It doesn't make sense to invest in it anymore.

 

[Winni]

Correct answer. For games or most programs, 64 bit is pointless on your workstation.

Ähem, unlike in the Mac world, the Windows world already has several applications that have been ported to 64-Bit. Photoshop CS4 being the most famous one.

And Far Cry and Crysis also come as fully optimized 64-Bit versions with a more detailed game world than their 32-Bit clients.

Sure, most of the stuff out there is still in the 32-Bit world. But that doesn't change the fact that the 64-Bit versions of Windows run much better than the 32-Bit editions and that more and more software currently is being ported to 64-Bit.

And the good news is that Vista users are licensed to use either version; the same license key is valid for both the 32-Bit and the 64-Bit edition, no matter whether you purchased the expensive retail or the cheaper OEM/SystemBuilder version. If you do not have the installation medium, it can be ordered for a small handling fee from the Microsoft website. I 'only' had a 32-Bit Systembuilder version of Vista Ultimate Edition and could order the 64-Bit DVD from Microsoft for 24 Euros including tax and shipping.

 

[Winni]

I've never heard of Windows having free trials of any of their operating systems for download.

As a matter of fact, you can download 120 days trials of everything that sails under the Microsoft BackOffice flag - which means Windows Server, SQL Server, Sharepoint Portal Server and the like.

 

[Winni]

Microsoft can be quite generous when it want to be.

That's actually the main difference between Microsoft and Apple...

 

[nick9191]

Yeah they are pretty generous to students. I can get Office 08 standard edition (not student), for about £35 ($55) from them.

 

[Infrared]

For what? Not for games, they are 32 bit.

Crysis is both 32 and 64 bit. There are two executables.
I believe that Far Cry 2 also has a 64-bit version. If you
knew anything about the gaming scene, you'd know there
is quite some movement to 64-bit now and the games
will come that support that.

http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?showtopic=30224

As you can see, Far Cry 2 is about 15% faster when
running on Vista x64 in DX 10 than it is running on
XP Pro 32-bit [...]

Other benchmarks may differ, of course. Do your research.

ps

There are other benefits to 64-bit Vista. It is more secure
than either 32-bit Vista or 32-bit XP (e.g., mandatory driver
signing and sandboxed IE).