64-bit Windows

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Kloreep
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64-bit Windows

#1 Post by Kloreep » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:55 am

After reading all the trouble 64-bit Vista users are having patching Dragon Fire, I'm kinda curious... what's the benefit of using the 64-bit version compared to the 32-bit version? I've read that it actually runs 32-bit programs a bit faster than the 32-bit OS, but are there actually 64-bit programs out there that you use?

Solarkid
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Re: 64-bit Windows

#2 Post by Solarkid » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:10 am

There are 64-bit versions of programs, but they mostly have 32-bit versions too because 64-bit isn't wide spread enough yet. A 64-bit operating system will not run 32-bit programs faster, and in some cases they've run them slower. The only situation where a 64 bit system might excel even for 32-bit programs is if the computer has over 4GB of memory, 32-bit supports 4GB maximum, so if the same computer had both a 64-bit and a 32-bit os installed, only the 64-bit one would take full advantage of the memory, which might lead to better performance in some applications.

To be honest, right now only video and music editing programs really take any advantage when run in 64-bit on a 64-bit os. It just means that they have access to more 'channels' of information for each cpu cycle.

Dave

TheLonelyPaladin
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Re: 64-bit Windows

#3 Post by TheLonelyPaladin » Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:35 pm

There are reasons to have a 64bit system, but most of them are very technical and don't apply to the average user. That said, from what I've seen I don't have any of the problems on my 64bit system that everyone I know running 32bit Vista is always complaining about, but that's as likely do to me being a more advanced user and better at troubleshooting than they are.

One important thing to keep in mind though, is that these old games don't run any better on XP than they do in Vista64, if anything, I find it easier in Vista half the time because the compatibility modes work better (in XP they where a joke).

I will say one thing: that convulted ass fix I posted earflier about running Windows 3.1 in Dosbox has little to do with running Vista 64, the main reason I run Windows 3.1 in Dosbox is to run the Windows Kings Quest VI MPC, which uses Video for Windows which is not compatible which is as un compatible with XPx86 as it is with Vista64. Truthfully, QFG5 runs better in the Vista64 than it does in XP. in XP it won't even boot without the WinXP patch, the only problem is running the "QFGup12.exe" app in Vista64, because it's a 16 bit app, this is so far the only time I've actually run into a 16bit app for Windows, that I couldn't run in Vista, Windows specific applications that are not Win32 compatible are more rare than you'd think, at least one's you'd ever have any use for... and of course you can always install Windows 3.1 in Dosbox.

pikaporeon
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Re: 64-bit Windows

#4 Post by pikaporeon » Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:56 pm

I didn't know you could install 3.1 in DosBox. Now I have something to do when i rebeat QG2


Main benifit for 64bit windows, other than workstations, is some programs and games (Half Life 2/Source engine games, Crysis, FarCry) are optimized for better performance with it, and to get around the address space limitaiton of a 32x OS (namingly, only allowing approx 3.2 gb of RAM - less if you have a beefy video card)

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