64bit or 32bit

[-seek-]

should i go with 64bit or 32bit... what will run games better in the end?

-thx

 

[Sinster]

That's like asking Ford or Chevy... People will give you their input and show you millions of links between XP vs. Vista x86 vs. x64. So you have to take all that information and make the choice. Since Vista is fairly new there isn't a lot of tweaks out there to make games run faster.

I'm using the 64 bit version and 2142 runs pretty good. R6Vegas slows down in certain points. But overall my games run smoothly. I think the slow down is caused by my X-Fi Drivers.

 

[American Zombie]

For now I would go with 32 as driver support for 64 is very limited.

Might want to look at: Vista: Should I Install 64-bit or 32-bit Version? (x64 vs x86)

 

[Geffy]

I would probably recommend 32-bit as well. I have WinXP x64 and while all the games I play do work a couple have popped up warnings at installation saying the game is untested on 64-bit windows.

 

[ming]

Others say stay away from vista for gaming. lol

 

[madmatt]

Another vote for x86 (32-bit) after finding out a few production applications (including my choice for security) are not compatible with x64.

 

[LeeJend]

Wait until they finish Vista and all it's drivers, then go with the 64 Bit version.

 

[dubstar]

buy a mac and stop playing games. haha just kidding. yuck - macs...

 

[kop48]

Vista is really, really bad for games atm. I've noticed at least a 50% drop in performance when compared to XP. Stick with XP for now if you play games.

 

[madmatt]

How soon we all forget: 75% of the games didn't work under XP when it first came out. Why do many of you fail to realize it is no different?

 

[Mastershakes]

Another vote for x86 (32-bit) after finding out a few production applications (including my choice for security) are not compatible with x64.

Really? We've been hacking away, got most of our shiz running now.... not going to move to it for another year, but it's testing well (VPN, AV, Remote Toolz we use...)

Let me know what you are having trouble with... the Cisco VPN took a bit of tinkering...

 

[Khayman]

i've only noticed either increases in games performance (for the few x64 games i have) or no difference with Vista64 (previous system was xp64).
Certainly no massive drops or anything

 

[madmatt]

Really? We've been hacking away, got most of our shiz running now.... not going to move to it for another year, but it's testing well (VPN, AV, Remote Toolz we use...)

Let me know what you are having trouble with... the Cisco VPN took a bit of tinkering...

Shakes, I am sure they were problems I could have overcome, but I decided to go with 32-bit for the time being. I plan on going back to 64-bit within six months.

 

[kop48]

How soon we all forget: 75% of the games didn't work under XP when it first came out. Why do many of you fail to realize it is no different?

It's just ironic that MS calls this the 'gaming' OS, then.

If they really wanted to badge it so, they should've coordinated their release with some decent video drivers!

 

[Perris Calderon]

if you're going to get vista but you do alot of gaming there's really only one choice here

buy the 64 bit vista and stick with xp for your games

simple...by the time games are written for vista they're gonna be writing for 64 bit imho

so that's the strategy, get the 64 bit vista, hang on to 32 bit xp for games

 

[kop48]

That's a bit of a huge overstatement there. I can guarantee that a lot of the up-and-coming games will NOT be 64-bit simply by the fact that 64-bit drivers are a pain in the arse and most 'gaming' hardware tend to release the latest drivers on the 32-bit platform, not the 64-bit. 64-bit gaming is usually an afterthought, once the company has released their game out for a few months.

Prime examples: Half-life 2, Far Cry

Also, Vista (DX10) games are not that far away. We'll start seeing them within the next 6 months. We won't start seeing a huge adoption of 64-bit within that same time.

 

[Perris Calderon]

That's a bit of a huge overstatement there. I can guarantee that a lot of the up-and-coming games will NOT be 64-bit simply by the fact that 64-bit drivers are a pain in the arse and most 'gaming' hardware tend to release the latest drivers on the 32-bit platform, not the 64-bit. 64-bit gaming is usually an afterthought, once the company has released their game out for a few months.

Prime examples: Half-life 2, Far Cry

Also, Vista (DX10) games are not that far away. We'll start seeing them within the next 6 months. We won't start seeing a huge adoption of 64-bit within that same time.

good point, you're probably right, but don't those games exist for xp?

if they exist for xp and xp support is going to continue, which I kind of think it will, then that's my point, keep running your gaming on xp till they start writing for 64 vista

if those games are not written for xp and are only written for 32 bit vista, then disregard my original advise

if they are written for xp then the advise is sound

 

[kop48]

Ah yes, based on those grounds (XP better for gaming at least for the next 5-6 months), then your advice is VERY sound.

However, since we are going to start seeing DX10 exclusive games, you will need Vista eventually. That said, most of those games will also have a DX9 rendering path - it just won't be as pretty. ;-)

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

Games that are only DX10 wont sell many copies and that alone shoots the game makers in the place the sun dont shine! They wont do that anytime soon all games will have the DX9 code paths for a good while yet.

 

[GEN3RIC]

Those who say 'stay away from Vista for games' don't want Far Cry, or really any DX10 title.. OMGLOSERS.