New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

to 32 bit or 64?

post #1 of 11
1/26/08 at 9:41am
Thread Starter 
i have been wondering if going to 64 bit would be better. and would everything run fine that would on 32 bit
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 11
1/26/08 at 11:26am
Depends. Professional applications such as server, 3D work rendering, video rendering or number crunching related applications do benefit from 64-bit environments.

Gaming, browsing, regular office applications won't or the gains will be minimal, most of these are written for 32-bit OSs anyway so they will run under some sort of 32-bit emulation under a 64-bit OS.

That and you may have a hard time finding the right drivers for everything inside the computer and to other things you may want to connect to it such as scanners, printers, cameras, etc.

64-bit OS's require 64-bit drivers to work, standard 32-bit drivers won't work.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 11
1/26/08 at 9:34pm
. vista?
. trend is toward 64bits OS, u can always use 32bits apps in between if it really being needed

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 11
1/26/08 at 9:46pm
Not enough mainstream apps take advantage of 64-bit to justify the headaches of early-adopting 64-bit Windows Vista. Wait a bit.

Unless you run Pro software, like Moidock said.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 11
1/27/08 at 12:22am
Viruses have to be specially written for 64-bit OS'es too. If you can find the drivers needed for your computer to run in 64-bit, you'll massively decrease your likelihood for contracting viruses.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 11
1/28/08 at 3:55pm
I still say let others be the early adopters and work out the bugs; jump in when it's a plug-n-play option for you.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 11
3/13/08 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyako View Post
Viruses have to be specially written for 64-bit OS'es too. If you can find the drivers needed for your computer to run in 64-bit, you'll massively decrease your likelihood for contracting viruses.
This is not even slightly true. A virus will run under wow32 just like any other 32-bit app.

My advice: The only reason to get the 64-bit version of Vista is if you have 6GB of RAM or more. This is because 64-bit versions of apps use 30-40% more memory than their 32-bit counterparts on average, so you're taking a pretty big memory hit if you only have 2GB (or even 4GB) of RAM.

4GB isn't really worth it either. Yes, you're getting back that 512MB or 1GB that you can't use under 32-bit, but at the same time everything uses more memory, cancelling out the advantage.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 11
3/14/08 at 12:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guspaz View Post
This is not even slightly true. A virus will run under wow32 just like any other 32-bit app.
No.

Only certain types of programs are able to use wow64. Drivers, antivirus, and viruses, cannot use it.

Quote:
Many 32 bit programs will run on the 64 bit OS. However, programs that run in kernel mode won’t. This means that some of the most dangerous malicious programs won’t run on 64 bit Windows.
source

If you do even more reading, you'll see articles from 2004 where the first virus coded for 64-bit Windows, Shruggle, emerged. It would not have caused such an uproar if normal 32-bit viruses were all able to run natively in Windows. It was quickly brought under control, and since 64-bit OS's are still not widely adopted by end users, there were not many to follow.

This info is not something I have made up. Everyone I know who is in the business of software engineering has told me the same exact thing, and it's quite clearly true from basically every reliable source you can find. 64-bit OS's are safer, for the same reason OSX and Linux are. Not as many people use them, so they're not as much of a target as 32-bit Windows OS's.

BTW, wow32, as I'm sure you realize, is for 16-bit apps in a 32-bit OS.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 11
3/14/08 at 1:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyako View Post
BTW, wow32, as I'm sure you realize, is for 16-bit apps in a 32-bit OS.
saving it for the final statement for the smackdown!

anyway, there's also other things in the 64-bit Vista hardening against viruses: a more complete implementation of DEP and the NX bit on all x64 processors, a difference in memory space allocation under the 64-bit environment for applications, and a requirement for anything running in kernel space to be signed by a trusted signer
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 11
3/30/08 at 2:56pm
i was running 64-bit myself and just found that many of the third party apps that i really loved and used on a daily basis just didn't play well so, i am out of vista totally and back to xp pro...happy as a pig in slop!
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 11
4/2/08 at 11:53pm
seriously considering going back to vista32
for what I'm using the laptop for, I'm not using 64bit and frustrated with waiting on apps to catch up; probably go back to 32 until the world catches up
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home