Anyone here still running on a 32 bit OS?

if so, what's holding you back from upgrading to 64bit OS?

P.S. I'm running vista 64 mainly due to my 8 GB RAM (32bit vista doesn't support it ).

Compatibility.OoSuperMarioO

have you tried installing vista 64 on your pc?

[QUOTE="OoSuperMarioO"]Compatibility.Mystery_Writer

have you tried installing vista 64 on your pc?

Seriously...

What made you want to switch to 64bit...?

There are really no benefits from doing it...

Compatibility.OoSuperMarioO

Same. No I haven't tried it with my current pc because I don't have the urge to spend hours on an experiment that in the end won't grant me any increased performance on the programs that I use.

Seriously...

What made you want to switch to 64bit...?

There are really no benefits from doing it...

Elemayo

what about support to 8GB RAM?

I'm running 32bit XP. Don't see any reason to rush off to a 64bit OS which has occasional game issues.

what about support to 8GB RAM?

Mystery_Writer

I looked at this when I built my last machine a couple months ago. I couldn't find any benchmarks that show performance gain in an existing game going from 2GB to 4GB RAM. Going beyond 4GB at this point seems pointless for gaming. If I was running a database server I'd find a 64bit OS. Right now, I'm playing games.

[QUOTE="Elemayo"]

Seriously...

What made you want to switch to 64bit...?

There are really no benefits from doing it...

Mystery_Writer

what about support to 8GB RAM?

What are the other benefits besides that? That does sound like a big benefit, but don't games have to be developed a certain way in order for them to utilize so much RAM?

if so, what's holding you back from upgrading to 64bit OS?

P.S. I'm running vista 64 mainly due to my 8 GB RAM (32bit vista doesn't support it ).

Mystery_Writer

Lol, I bet more than 95% of the people on this board still use a 32 bit OS. Asking the question as if they would be in the minority is silly.

Yeah 32 Vista. Gonna upgrade because of the 2GB barrier and most modern games seem to breach and gonna upgrade to four gigs of ram. Vista alone runs around 600MB+ ram which is outrageous. That's with all the goodies like aero off and such.EndersAres

it appears to use more RAM depending on how much you have. for instance, mine is using about 800 MB and I have all of the "goodies" on as well as Firefox and Steam.

Yeah 32 Vista. Gonna upgrade because of the 2GB barrier and most modern games seem to breach and gonna upgrade to four gigs of ram. Vista alone runs around 600MB+ ram which is outrageous. That's with all the goodies like aero off and such.EndersAres

32 bit Vista has 3gb barrier, not 2gb. Not that many games would be affected by it. However, 64 bit OSes will be the future as time goes on, so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof :)

32 bit Vista has 3gb barrier, not 2gb. Not that many games would be affected by it. However, 64 bit OSes will be the future as time goes on, so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof :)

PandaBear86

No I'm pretty sure programs can't use more than 2gb of ram. All my games like Crysis, Witcher and some other crash after they hit 2gb of ram used. I know Vista can detect 3gb of ram. I wasn't talking about that.

[QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

32 bit Vista has 3gb barrier, not 2gb. Not that many games would be affected by it. However, 64 bit OSes will be the future as time goes on, so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof :)

EndersAres

No I'm pretty sure programs can't use more than 2gb of ram. All my games like Crysis, Witcher and some other crash after they hit 2gb of ram used. I know Vista can detect 3gb of ram. I wasn't talking about that.

They crash after 2gb of RAM is reached? I was never aware of this issue. If this is the case, when I buy a PC gaming rig in a few months, should I buy a Pc with only 2gb RAM? Or is it safe to get 3gb?

They crash after 2gb of RAM is reached? I was never aware of this issue. If this is the case, when I buy a PC gaming rig in a few months, should I buy a Pc with only 2gb RAM? Or is it safe to get 3gb?

PandaBear86

From what I have read it only happens in 32 bit Vista. Something about calculations or whatever. The Witcher support people told me to wait for SP1 to fix the problem if it even does or upgrade to 64b Vista. I thought it was ridiculous honestly. Most of the games I am playing now don't have the problem. It seems to be with games that have bad coding and optimization.

so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof :)

PandaBear86

Lol. There's no such thing as a future proof PC. You must be fairly new to the pc gaming scene.

[QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof :)

Qixote

Lol. There's no such thing as a future proof PC. You must be fairly new to the pc gaming scene.

I have been playing PC games since 1994. When I say "future proof" I mean that a computer with 8gb of RAM will still be good enough to last you until 2012 without any problem, and 2012 is the future, so yes it is future proof, even if its just in the short term. "future proof" does NOT mean it has to last you 30 years. 5 years is good enough to be considered "future proof".

[QUOTE="Qixote"][QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof :)

PandaBear86

Lol. There's no such thing as a future proof PC. You must be fairly new to the pc gaming scene.

I have been playing PC games since 1994. When I say "future proof" I mean that a computer with 8gb of RAM will still be good enough to last you until 2012 without any problem, and 2012 is the future, so yes it is future proof, even if its just in the short term. "future proof" does NOT mean it has to last you 30 years. 5 years is good enough to be considered "future proof".

I have been playing PC games since 1994. When I say "future proof" I mean that a computer with 8gb of RAM will still be good enough to last you until 2012 without any problem, and 2012 is the future, so yes it is future proof, even if its just in the short term. "future proof" does NOT mean it has to last you 30 years. 5 years is good enough to be considered "future proof".

PandaBear86

You still sound naive to me. 8gb of RAM may last you until 2012. But nothing else in your current PC will. At least not for gaming. You're forgetting about how newer games will continue to demand faster processors and video cards. When faster processors are made, it's not long before a newer motherboard is required to use the new processor. So the only thing about your current PC which you still might be using are your 8gb ram, and maybe your case, keyboard and mouse. But then again, ram technology is always changing, so the ram you have now may not work with a new motherboard. Yep, let's just see how far your 8gb ram gets you without upgrading anything else for the next 5 years.

[QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

I have been playing PC games since 1994. When I say "future proof" I mean that a computer with 8gb of RAM will still be good enough to last you until 2012 without any problem, and 2012 is the future, so yes it is future proof, even if its just in the short term. "future proof" does NOT mean it has to last you 30 years. 5 years is good enough to be considered "future proof".

Qixote

You still sound naive to me. 8gb of RAM may last you until 2012. But nothing else in your current PC will. At least not for gaming. You're forgetting about how newer games will continue to demand faster processors and video cards. When faster processors are made, it's not long before a newer motherboard is required to use the new processor. So the only thing about your current PC which you still might be using are your 8gb ram, and maybe your case, keyboard and mouse. But then again, ram technology is always changing, so the ram you have now may not work with a new motherboard. Yep, let's just see how far your 8gb ram gets you without upgrading anything else for the next 5 years.

You CAN still play new games on a computer that is a few years old, even without upgrading. Have you forgotten that you can lower resolution and texture details if your computer cannot handle a game on max setings? It appears to me that you will only play a computer game if you are able to max it. I play several games on my crappy laptop with a mere 7300Gs, its just that I have to put up with lowered resolution, framerate and details. Many games are still playable, though.

You don't have to max a game to be able to play it.

You don't have to max a game to be able to play it.

PandaBear86

Willing to play games at low settings greatly contradicts your need for 8gb RAM.

[QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

You don't have to max a game to be able to play it.

Qixote

Willing to play games at low settings greatly contradicts your need for 8gb RAM.

If you buy a PC today with 8gb and cannot max games in 2012, I think the GPU will be the biggest bottleneck, not the RAM. Crysis only needs 2gb of RAM, but on the other hand it is extremely hard to get a GPU to max it. If 2gb is enough for a graphics monster like Crysis, I think it will a long time before 8gb becomes a bottleneck for any game.

Remember, I said 8gb of RAM will be futureproof, NOT the entire computer. I never said anything about GPUs being futureproof. I only said 8gb of RAM is future proof.

Remember, I said 8gb of RAM will be futureproof, NOT the entire computer. I never said anything about GPUs being futureproof. I only said 8gb of RAM is future proof.

PandaBear86

No, I'm absolutely positive you said PC is futureproof. Let me refresh your memory, you said "so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof"

[QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

Remember, I said 8gb of RAM will be futureproof, NOT the entire computer. I never said anything about GPUs being futureproof. I only said 8gb of RAM is future proof.

Qixote

No, I'm absolutely positive you said PC is futureproof. Let me refresh your memory, you said "so feel free to upgrade to 4-8gb if you want your PC to be future proof"

In terms of RAM, yes. But I never said anything about the GPU.

And yes, your PC can still play games on a computer that is a few years old, just because you cannot max it does not mean that it is not future proof. It appears that your definition of "future proof" is different than mine.

My definition of "future proof": You buy a high end PC gaming rig today with 8gb RAM, and you can still play games in 2012, but you will not be able to max it. As long as you can still play it, it is still good enough.

Your definition of "future proof": You buy a PC today, and even in the year 2025 you will be able to max every sinle game and still achieve a framerate of 100fps, even without upgrading your PC.

If I am wrong about your definition of "future proof" then please let me know what your definition is.

Seriously...

What made you want to switch to 64bit...?

There are really no benefits from doing it...

Elemayo

Faster performance, more addressable memory space...

If I am wrong about your definition of "future proof" then please let me know what your definition is.

PandaBear86

Frankly I don't know what point you're trying to make anymore, I don't think you even know. All I know is I've shown plainly that you've contradicted yourself twice about how "futureproof" 8gb is. Why don't you just go buy yourself 1 terrabyte of RAM? That will surely keep you futureproof with RAM only. You won't be able to use it all before the rest of your PC goes obsolete, but maybe you can decorate your home with the extra sticks you'll never benefit from.

[QUOTE="PandaBear86"]

If I am wrong about your definition of "future proof" then please let me know what your definition is.

Qixote

Frankly I don't know what point you're trying to make anymore, I don't think you even know. All I know is I've shown plainly that you've contradicted yourself twice about how "futureproof" 8gb is. Why don't you just go buy yourself 1 terrabyte of RAM? That will surely keep you futureproof with RAM only. You won't be able to use it all before the rest of your PC goes obsolete, but maybe you can decorate your home with the extra sticks you'll never benefit from.

Okay then FINE. There is no such thing as "future proof". You win.