AH and vista 64bit

[firbal]

I am in the process of buying parts for a new system. Was going to stay with XP. But I plan on useing this system for the next 4 or so years. My present one I built 4 years ago with some upgrades over time.

So the question is, over time, 64bit may be what I may need to go with. I would like to stay with XP. But Vista seems the only OP I have to go with to play the game I have and are coming out with. So is Vista getting stable enough to put out the money on and still play AH on?

[Masherbrum]

I'm going to be upgrading my PC to an E8400 and will stick with XP Pro.   

Windows 7 is slated for release in 2010 which will make Vista a non-factor.   XP Pro will be supported until 2014.   

My suggestion?   Go with XP Pro until at least Windows 7 is released.   Don't buy into Vista, it'll be gone before you know it. 

[Skuzzy]

Actually Masher, MS is targeting 2009 for the Windows 7 release, but most folks are just saying 2010 is probably more realistic.

[NHawk]

Interesting that I was considering the same thing yesterday. I'll have a spare Core 2 Duo laying around after tomorrow (replacing with E8400) and was thinking of building another system with 64 bit Vista.

I guess I'll hold off a while.

[Skuzzy]

Seems Vista is headed into that realm where Windows ME ended up.  Cannot happen soon enough for me.

[Masherbrum]

Actually Masher, MS is targeting 2009 for the Windows 7 release, but most folks are just saying 2010 is probably more realistic.

I almost put that in my post Roy, I just didn't want to "increase the deadline" and get you all in any trouble.   So I went with the "Official Release Year" so to speak.   

<<S>> bud     

[Skuzzy]

No problem.  I think 2010 is more realistic as well, but MS is sure wanting to get passed the debacle that is Vista.  I mean, how many companies introduce FUD to thier own product?

[NHawk]

No problem.  I think 2010 is more realistic as well, but MS is sure wanting to get passed the debacle that is Vista.  I mean, how many companies introduce FUD to thier own product?

MS has done it with every product since Win98. They're good at it. 

[firbal]

I was looking at newegg last night and saw that they XP in 64bit for sale there. So I can stay with XP after all.

Some of the people seem to think that people are staying with XP is that it is famular to them and don't want to chance. As for me, I don't care one way or the other. I don't buy the new M$ OP when it comes out because they are all buggy when they are release. Usely after about 6 months or so then I start looking at them. When XP came out, it took M$ awhile to get that fixed. Then it took gamers a long time to trust it not to say we had to buy new game controls because of the changes. But we are looking at almost a year and an half and it still they have not got it up to speed. Once again M$ really know how to do bussiness.   

[Skuzzy]

MS has done it with every product since Win98. They're good at it. 

Yes, they are, but Vista has only been out there for a little over a year, and they are already announcing a replacement OS for it, 2 years before it is really ready to go.  The last time this happened, it was when Windows ME was scheduled to be killed.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I was looking at newegg last night and saw that they XP in 64bit for sale there. So I can stay with XP after all.

Some of the people seem to think that people are staying with XP is that it is famular to them and don't want to chance. As for me, I don't care one way or the other. I don't buy the new M$ OP when it comes out because they are all buggy when they are release. Usely after about 6 months or so then I start looking at them. When XP came out, it took M$ awhile to get that fixed. Then it took gamers a long time to trust it not to say we had to buy new game controls because of the changes. But we are looking at almost a year and an half and it still they have not got it up to speed. Once again M$ really know how to do bussiness.   

Ask yourself if you absolutely need over 4 gigabytes of memory to run some professional database application. If you're not going to do heavy data processing or render huge animations/movie scenes, stick with 32 bits.

XP64 is every bit as buggy and troublesome with drivers as is Vista64. And the real kicker is that you gain NOTHING except the ability to add more memory while losing most of the compatability of 32-bit XP.

[firbal]

MrRipley, thanks for your input. That is what I was looking for. Was wondering what I would gain with 64bit.

So how much memory can XP handle? And what is the largest hard drive it can handle also?

[BaldEagl]

MrRipley, thanks for your input. That is what I was looking for. Was wondering what I would gain with 64bit.

So how much memory can XP handle? And what is the largest hard drive it can handle also?

Regular 32 Bit XP can see 3-3.5 Gigs of Ram.  There's no limitation as to HD.  I have a 250 gig, a 200 gig and a 160 gig in my machine.

[Skuzzy]

Earlier releases of XP could only see 127GB of HD storage.  Somewhere along the way, the 48 bit IDE drivers got put into XP.  You do not want to try an upgrade that pre-48 bit driver version of XP.  It ain't pretty.

[Gixer]

We have the same argument every time Skuzzy, and you repeat the same points pulling out facts that I've never heard before. The point I was making is that for FSX (which can bring any system to its knees) now has multi core support and is a much better and faster experience for it. If I loaded XP onto this rig I wouldn't get half the frame rates I'm now enjoying with Vista + FSX.

I'm not going to go through all your points some are just plain out of date and incorrect. I don't know why you have such a dislike for Vista, yes you have some complaints from a work/operations perspective but to the degree as you describe is hard to believe. My list would reach to the moon if I started talking about Ecommerce Servers,Tandem,Unix and networks located in India all in a production EFT environment.  All I'm saying is that Vista running on my rig has been faultless and now as more multi core/multi GPU support is being released for more applications/games it runs faster then if I were running XP.

By the way I never had any issues with XP either, have always built and over clocked my PC's and am also a professional in the business. Infact I've found FSX and Vista easier to configure, no need to edit every .cfg to peek performance just load it up and play on Ultra High settings.

Eventually everyone will have to move on from XP to take advantage of current (let alone) new hardware, applications,games etc. Cycle of development, no point trying to resist claiming the sky is falling. Yes of course there will always be initial issues just as there has been with every OS but through development these are ironed out and you have a solid future proof OS for some years.


<S>...-Gixer