vista 32 vs 64 bit

[rileyke]

I'm considering either the Sager 5796 or 8660 for combined gaming and photography. I've only used desktops up to now, and my vista ultimate is 32 bit. My friend, who built my current desktop, tells me to avoid 64 bit as not all games will run as well on 64 bit.

Reading through all the options, 64 bit seems to be becoming "the thing" to use.

Please educate me regarding this.

Tell me what is best for gaming, and I'll also be using my laptop for photography and ......work.

Thanks in advance,

Keith

[kpauls]

Age of Conan has (or had?) issues with windows Vista 64-bit because of poor DirectX10 compatibility or something like that.

I have not personally experienced game compatibility problems as much as driver issues (not all the power saving options seem to be supported in 64-bit).

I did have to manually install the printer drivers for my work network printer.

[OregonCoastGamer]

Well, I have yet to find a game I can't run. I originally got 64-bit in order to run 4GB or RAM, but was glad to find out that all the incompatibility stories were less of a problem than I anticipated. All I do is run older games in compatibility mode. I also remember reading somewhere that 64-bit architecture was designed to be more stable in some areas... not sure though, but so far so good here.

[xpcdude]

32 bit systems are mathematically limited so they cannot ever use 4 Gb of ram. Whereas 64 bit systems can use almost an infinite ammount of memory.
Vista 64 is stable,fast,reliable and probably one of the best OS'es out there.

[robamb2002]

I have found some compatibility issues with REALLY old games mainly 16 bit games. they won't even attempt to install. Just incase you get obsessively nostalgic, you could always install VirtualPC (free download from microsoft with vailid vista os) with XP and run any games that way. the limited virtual machine can run any older games without a hitch. At least thats what I've done with all my older star wars games :)

[xpcdude]

Indeed, I have done that with very old games, in the past too.
Vista 64 is the futureproof OS right now :)

[rileyke]

Thanks for your helpful and quick answers! So be it, I'll move on to 64bit! Now for the first laptop! I've narrowed my choices to the sager 8660/5796 or asus g50. Thoughts on the most versatile for use gaming/photography and mobility? Regards.

[xpcdude]

I would recommend the 8660 as being the best choice in both performance and mobility.

[Kaldor]

Vista 64 is stable,fast,reliable and probably one of the best OS'es out there.

After you thru it and trim the fat! Vista has so much unnecessary crap installed with it its unreal. Go to a website like www.blackviper.com and take a look. He lays out what can be turned off/removed and what shouldn't and different levels of risk for each option.

After you do that, its pretty solid and you shouldn't really have any issues with the 32 vs 64 bit versions.