will a quad core be utilized on a 32bit OS?

buying a C2Q Q6600 should I get the 64 bit OS...?

I already own a 32bit vista so its kinda a waste of money...

Vista 32bit can use all four cores, but it can only see 3GB of ram.

So if you want to use 4GB or more of ram you need 64bit, but you only need that if your working with video editing/CAD based stuff. For games, 3GB is quite enough for now and very few games fully support a 64bit OS.

I have a Q6600 and Vista 32bit

Yeah, vengi's right.

But to work better, and to address more than 3gb of ram, you need 64bit Vista or XP has a ver too.

if you don't want to throw money away, find linux version that suits you, but be aware,there will be no DX 10.

For games, 3GB is quite enough for now and very few games fully support a 64bit OS.

vengi

You cant be sure about that, because the game suits the OS. Maybe it won't work, but maybe it will. If you have tried something like that, or similar on it, can you PM me? THX.

Why those people saying Vista 32bit supports 3GB of RAM ?

It supports 4GB OF RAM LOLS.

Why those people saying Vista 32bit supports 3GB of RAM ?

It supports 4GB OF RAM LOLS.

LahiruD

Well i wouldnt say 4gb more like 3.5ish gigs of ram. Depends though.

[QUOTE="LahiruD"]

Why those people saying Vista 32bit supports 3GB of RAM ?

It supports 4GB OF RAM LOLS.

Master_Kev

Well i wouldnt say 4gb more like 3.5ish gigs of ram. Depends though.

[QUOTE="Master_Kev"][QUOTE="LahiruD"]

Why those people saying Vista 32bit supports 3GB of RAM ?

It supports 4GB OF RAM LOLS.

yoyo462001

Well i wouldnt say 4gb more like 3.5ish gigs of ram. Depends though.

Actually I posted a document (or a link to it) that explains the 3 GB ceiling that ALL 32 bit OSes from MS have ... mainly though I can tell you that it is due to DOS compatibility and 32 bit app support (XP). The area above 3 Gb is actually used by the system for video ram and other stuff if there is physical RAM present. So that is why Vista will never report the full 4 GBs ... really you end up wasting money ... there just is no reason to spend money for 4 Gbs of RAM when you will never be able to use it all for apps. And the folks who have a GTX and like to brag that they have 4 GBs are really in for a shock ... the whole 768 GBS of Video ram is mapped to that area and so there goes 768 MB of your extra GB just like that. Some people with a GTX will notice (and angrily tell you) that Vista is actually seeing less than 3 GBs of RAM.

I'll see if I can dig that info up for you folks again. I know it made everything very clear for me.

[QUOTE="LahiruD"]

Why those people saying Vista 32bit supports 3GB of RAM ?

It supports 4GB OF RAM LOLS.

Master_Kev

Well i wouldnt say 4gb more like 3.5ish gigs of ram. Depends though.

The reason it depends it because:

http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

Excerpt from above article:

"If you install 4Gb, there is no way to make all of the RAM between 3Gb and 4Gb available without installing a 64-bit OS, which you can't do unless you have a 64-bit CPU. And even then it won't necessarily work.

So, to avoid hassles on current systems, it's best to stick with 3Gb or less.

Fortunately, this isn't a big problem for most people, provided they know about it in advance. Three gigs is enough for even quite serious applications, and it's easy to install on most motherboards (two 1Gb modules, two 512Mb ones). And very nearly all of that three gigabytes will actually be seen by the system.

(The reason why not quite all of even three gigabytes is usable is related to the 4Gb problem, as we'll see.)

Power users with a hankerin' for dual graphics cards may be experiencing something of a sinking feeling, at this juncture. Yes, the 256Mb reserved for my little old graphics card means exactly what you think it means: Those two 768Mb graphics cards you can totally justify buying will eat one point five gigabytes of your 32-bit memory map all by themselves, cutting you down to a 2.5Gb ceiling before you even take the other reservations into account.

This also explains why 1Gb graphics cards haven't hit the consumer market yet. Nobody yet needs anything like that much memory on one card for any desktop computer purpose, but some people would still be very happy to pay for such a card just for the pose value. It'd eat the whole of the fourth gigabyte of their system memory, though. And then they'd probably demand their money back.

(This fact has apparently not stopped certain unscrupulous companies, coughDellcough, from allowing people to buy a computer with WinXP, 4Gb of RAM, and a pair of Nvidia's oddball 1Gb GeForce 7950 GX2 cards. Result: 56.25% of the installed memory absent without leave. You might as well have only bought 2Gb.)"

a quad core will have all four cores used in vists 32 bit but the quad is a 64 bit CPU not a 32 bit. Wrong. It's a 32-bit CPU with 64-bit extensions.meaning it can run 64 bit applications which is what I meant by use to full potential. Ihave the feeling you asked this question because of something you saw me write, I really need to be more clear next time lol. Okay the reason why you should get vista 64 bit is 64 bit programs Not really since there are virtually no 64-bit programs, they offer better performance then 32 bit programs Wrong again. Just because a program is compiled for 64-bits, doesn't mean performance will be better.and a 64 bit operating system can run 32 bit programs fine.also crysis will have a performance increase in 64 bit operating systems because 64 bit progaming is superior to 32 bit programming Wrong.Your ignorance on the topic is truly appalling..so in short 64 bit programs (crysis) will run better than programs running in 32 bit. Sigh. I give upfilmography

[QUOTE="filmography"]a quad core will have all four cores used in vists 32 bit but the quad is a 64 bit CPU not a 32 bit. Wrong. It's a 32-bit CPU with 64-bit extensions.meaning it can run 64 bit applications which is what I meant by use to full potential. Ihave the feeling you asked this question because of something you saw me write, I really need to be more clear next time lol. Okay the reason why you should get vista 64 bit is 64 bit programs Not really since there are virtually no 64-bit programs, they offer better performance then 32 bit programs Wrong again. Just because a program is compiled for 64-bits, doesn't mean performance will be better.and a 64 bit operating system can run 32 bit programs fine.also crysis will have a performance increase in 64 bit operating systems because 64 bit progaming is superior to 32 bit programming Wrong.Your ignorance on the topic is truly appalling..so in short 64 bit programs (crysis) will run better than programs running in 32 bit. Sigh. I give upGog

okay first point your right, although it still can use 64 bit instructions so its the equivilant of a grammer mistake, or something like that. Your second point is wrong, there are plenty of programs that are written in 64 bit, a main one is virtual dub and other ones.

"While 64-bit architectures indisputably make working with large data sets in applications such as digital video, scientific computing, and large databases easier, there has been considerable debate as to whether they or their 32-bit compatibility modes will be faster than comparably-priced 32-bit systems for other tasks. In x86-64 architecture (AMD64 and Intel 64), the majority of the 32-bit operating systems and applications are able to run smoothly on the 64-bit hardware."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

"Crysis takes advantage of 64-bit processors although only by using a 64-bit operating system such as Windows XP Pro 64-bit edition or Windows Vista 64-bit edition. According to Cevat Yerli, Crysis will have a 10-15% performance increase per thread running in 64-bit. Thus a dual core processor will run 20-30% faster than a single and a quad will run 40-60% faster than a single."

http://www.incrysis.com/wiki/index.php/Crysis_System_Requirements

Now this is truly laughable, you dare claim I'm the one thats "ignorance is appalling" when you dont know jack **** You weren't even worth the time I spent finding these sources but I only did it so people didn't believe your crap. so in conlcusion 64 bit>32 bit. man I'm never taking your advice EVER.

[QUOTE="filmography"]a quad core will have all four cores used in vists 32 bit but the quad is a 64 bit CPU not a 32 bit. Wrong. It's a 32-bit CPU with 64-bit extensions.meaning it can run 64 bit applications which is what I meant by use to full potential. Ihave the feeling you asked this question because of something you saw me write, I really need to be more clear next time lol. Okay the reason why you should get vista 64 bit is 64 bit programs Not really since there are virtually no 64-bit programs, they offer better performance then 32 bit programs Wrong again. Just because a program is compiled for 64-bits, doesn't mean performance will be better.and a 64 bit operating system can run 32 bit programs fine.also crysis will have a performance increase in 64 bit operating systems because 64 bit progaming is superior to 32 bit programming Wrong.Your ignorance on the topic is truly appalling..so in short 64 bit programs (crysis) will run better than programs running in 32 bit. Sigh. I give upGog

Wow there was so much misinformation in the original post ... No way you should switch purely to 64 bit Vista because of the app and driver support. 64 bit Vista requires 64 bit drivers ... period ... unlike 32 bit vista which can still work with some 32 bit XP drivers. Alot of the DOS and x86 32 bit compatibility is gone ... and this is mainly for the addressing of tons of RAM. In fact when systems can recognize more than 128 GB of ram Vista 64 bit will be able to address all of it. Crysis 64 bit? Huh?

One thing I do want to add is that the only way to access more than 4 GBs of ram is to move to 64 bit Vista ... period. And even then you are still going to lose memory in that 4 gig memory space. There is no way around that. Still you will be able to get more than 7 gigs from 64 bit Vista Basic and over 15 gig max from Home Premium.

Wow there was so much misinformation in the original post ... No way you should switch purely to 64 bit Vista because of the app and driver support. 64 bit Vista requires 64 bit drivers ... period ... unlike 32 bit vista which can still work with some 32 bit XP drivers. Alot of the DOS and x86 32 bit compatibility is gone ... and this is mainly for the addressing of tons of RAM. In fact when systems can recognize more than 128 GB of ram Vista 64 bit will be able to address all of it. Crysis 64 bit? Huh?

One thing I do want to add is that the only way to access more than 4 GBs of ram is to move to 64 bit Vista ... period. And even then you are still going to lose memory in that 4 gig memory space. There is no way around that. Still you will be able to get more than 7 gigs from 64 bit Vista Basic and over 15 gig max from Home Premium.

AnubanUT2

actually I have never had any problem with drivers for vista 64 bit, you can still use 32 bit drivers just fine. the only problem is if you use really old scanners/printers but I had the same problem in 32 bit vista as well. It was like a deskjet 1600 from HP, but meh I usually use black and white anyway. could you please clarify your question on crysis 64 bit. The link just says that crysis will perform better in a 64 bit system. now on the subject of dos compatibility, okay I haven't tried that out so if your a student taking computer classes and you need old coding programs then I see your point but not many people are affected by that. and you can just dual boot in that case.

have you even tried vista 64 bit?

[QUOTE="Gog"][QUOTE="filmography"]a quad core will have all four cores used in vists 32 bit but the quad is a 64 bit CPU not a 32 bit. Wrong. It's a 32-bit CPU with 64-bit extensions.meaning it can run 64 bit applications which is what I meant by use to full potential. Ihave the feeling you asked this question because of something you saw me write, I really need to be more clear next time lol. Okay the reason why you should get vista 64 bit is 64 bit programs Not really since there are virtually no 64-bit programs, they offer better performance then 32 bit programs Wrong again. Just because a program is compiled for 64-bits, doesn't mean performance will be better.and a 64 bit operating system can run 32 bit programs fine.also crysis will have a performance increase in 64 bit operating systems because 64 bit progaming is superior to 32 bit programming Wrong.Your ignorance on the topic is truly appalling..so in short 64 bit programs (crysis) will run better than programs running in 32 bit. Sigh. I give upfilmography

okay first point your right, although it still can use 64 bit instructions so its the equivilant of a grammer mistake, or something like that. Your second point is wrong, there are plenty of programs that are written in 64 bit, a main one is virtual dub and other ones.

"While 64-bit architectures indisputably make working with large data sets in applications such as digital video, scientific computing, and large databases easier, there has been considerable debate as to whether they or their 32-bit compatibility modes will be faster than comparably-priced 32-bit systems for other tasks. In x86-64 architecture (AMD64 and Intel 64), the majority of the 32-bit operating systems and applications are able to run smoothly on the 64-bit hardware."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

"Crysis takes advantage of 64-bit processors although only by using a 64-bit operating system such as Windows XP Pro 64-bit edition or Windows Vista 64-bit edition. According to Cevat Yerli, Crysis will have a 10-15% performance increase per thread running in 64-bit. Thus a dual core processor will run 20-30% faster than a single and a quad will run 40-60% faster than a single."

http://www.incrysis.com/wiki/index.php/Crysis_System_Requirements

Now this is truly laughable, you dare claim I'm the one thats "ignorance is appalling" when you dont know jack **** You weren't even worth the time I spent finding these sources but I only did it so people didn't believe your crap. so in conlcusion 64 bit>32 bit. man I'm never taking your advice EVER.

I'd still have to side with the person who was correcting you ... there really are not enough apps and drivers to move to Vista 64 now ... I just don't see it ... maybe as a dual boot system though it could work but not as a single OS solution for 90% of the gamers around not to mention other folks.

As far as 64 bit apps being faster than 32 bit apps ... well if you have the right hardware and the software is natively 64 bit and compiled as such in some instances the app will be faster but that is application dependent from research I have seen so far at the early stages of this stuff. So right now you cannot say that is always the case ... it is not even a general rule yet.

About Crysis ... that site is not an official site is it so I am not certain about those requirements ... and I have to be honest and say that I found it somewhat confusing but all AMD dual core processors are 64 bit but running a 32 bit OS (Vista) in my case so I don't fit the scenario. I suppose I am running in 32 bit compatibility mode ... but only a handful of people are really going to try and use 64 bit Vista and run Crysis ... the driver support for many of the other components is just not solid yet from what I have read around the web. And at first I thought you meant there was a 64 bit version of Crysis ... I don't know if I buy into those numbers ... I would need to have some kind of independent testing to confirm those. Anyway thanks for the clarification.

[QUOTE="AnubanUT2"]

Wow there was so much misinformation in the original post ... No way you should switch purely to 64 bit Vista because of the app and driver support. 64 bit Vista requires 64 bit drivers ... period ... unlike 32 bit vista which can still work with some 32 bit XP drivers. Alot of the DOS and x86 32 bit compatibility is gone ... and this is mainly for the addressing of tons of RAM. In fact when systems can recognize more than 128 GB of ram Vista 64 bit will be able to address all of it. Crysis 64 bit? Huh?

One thing I do want to add is that the only way to access more than 4 GBs of ram is to move to 64 bit Vista ... period. And even then you are still going to lose memory in that 4 gig memory space. There is no way around that. Still you will be able to get more than 7 gigs from 64 bit Vista Basic and over 15 gig max from Home Premium.

filmography

actually I have never had any problem with drivers for vista 64 bit, you can still use 32 bit drivers just fine. the only problem is if you use really old scanners/printers but I had the same problem in 32 bit vista as well. It was like a deskjet 1600 from HP, but meh I usually use black and white anyway. could you please clarify your question on crysis 64 bit. The link just says that crysis will perform better in a 64 bit system. now on the subject of dos compatibility, okay I haven't tried that out so if your a student taking computer classes and you need old coding programs then I see your point but not many people are affected by that. and you can just dual boot in that case.

have you even tried vista 64 bit?

Tbh nope haven't tried it because most articles say to stay clear until application and driver support greatly improve. In fact one of the main articles I go by stated that no 32 bit XP drivers will work with 64 bit Vista ... that is what really kept me away. I would imagine that the 32 bit Vista drivers would work fine but you have to remember that most folks are going to upgrade from some version of XP and not build a new system so that was where my perspective was coming from.

I'd still have to side with the person who was correcting you ... there really are not enough apps and drivers to move to Vista 64 now ... I just don't see it ... maybe as a dual boot system though it could work but not as a single OS solution for 90% of the gamers around not to mention other folks.

As someone that uses 64 bit there are plenty of drivers for it, and yyou do kow that you can use a 32 bit program in 64 bit vista without any ill effects right. so even if there isn't a particular driver it doesn't matter, I could run the 32 bit cataylst drivers if I wanted to but the 64 bit would run better. it would be incredibly stupid if all vista 64 bit could run are 64 bit programs, who the **** would buy that.

As far as 64 bit apps being faster than 32 bit apps ... well if you have the right hardware and the software is natively 64 bit and compiled as such in some instances the app will be faster but that is application dependent from research I have seen so far at the early stages of this stuff. So right now you cannot say that is always the case ... it is not even a general rule yet.

well again its not me that's saying it its wiki.

About Crysis ... that site is not an official site is it so I am not certain about those requirements ... and I have to be honest and say that I found it somewhat confusing but all AMD dual core processors are 64 bit but running a 32 bit OS (Vista) in my case so I don't fit the scenario. I suppose I am running in 32 bit compatibility mode ... but only a handful of people are really going to try and use 64 bit Vista and run Crysis ... the driver support for many of the other components is just not solid yet from what I have read around the web. And at first I thought you meant there was a 64 bit version of Crysis ... I don't know if I buy into those numbers ... I would need to have some kind of independent testing to confirm those. Anyway thanks for the clarification.

that site is very close with crysis, and that was from an interview with the CEO of crysis, trust me its legit. now I can understand your sceptisim of the information but I dont think the CEO would lie like that, however I guess we can wait for the demo to confirm that.

AnubanUT2

to add just how does xp drivers work with vista, do you mean xp 32 bit programs. If you do I got a few 32 bit programs that weren't made for vista and run fine. for one battlefield 2142 works fine on my vista and it doesn't support vista or 64 bit operating systems, also get right and adobe 8(my version before vista came out and I didn't run any updates).

I would just recommend to try vista 64 bit out if you have a second harddrive. just use it to test things and see if you like it. the biggest reason I could think of is mainly for crysis and eventually you will see more programs come out. but I guess you can just wait and see.

[QUOTE="AnubanUT2"]

I'd still have to side with the person who was correcting you ... there really are not enough apps and drivers to move to Vista 64 now ... I just don't see it ... maybe as a dual boot system though it could work but not as a single OS solution for 90% of the gamers around not to mention other folks.

As someone that uses 64 bit there are plenty of drivers for it, and yyou do kow that you can use a 32 bit program in 64 bit vista without any ill effects right. so even if there isn't a particular driver it doesn't matter, I could run the 32 bit cataylst drivers if I wanted to but the 64 bit would run better. it would be incredibly stupid if all vista 64 bit could run are 64 bit programs, who the **** would buy that.

As far as 64 bit apps being faster than 32 bit apps ... well if you have the right hardware and the software is natively 64 bit and compiled as such in some instances the app will be faster but that is application dependent from research I have seen so far at the early stages of this stuff. So right now you cannot say that is always the case ... it is not even a general rule yet.

well again its not me that's saying it its wiki.

About Crysis ... that site is not an official site is it so I am not certain about those requirements ... and I have to be honest and say that I found it somewhat confusing but all AMD dual core processors are 64 bit but running a 32 bit OS (Vista) in my case so I don't fit the scenario. I suppose I am running in 32 bit compatibility mode ... but only a handful of people are really going to try and use 64 bit Vista and run Crysis ... the driver support for many of the other components is just not solid yet from what I have read around the web. And at first I thought you meant there was a 64 bit version of Crysis ... I don't know if I buy into those numbers ... I would need to have some kind of independent testing to confirm those. Anyway thanks for the clarification.

that site is very close with crysis, and that was from an interview with the CEO of crysis, trust me its legit. now I can understand your sceptisim of the information but I dont think the CEO would lie like that, however I guess we can wait for the demo to confirm that.

filmography

Cool ... I guess we will all see how much of that interview is true in just over a month. You have 64 bit Vista and 32 bit Vista I would imagine so you can tell us all if there is indeed a big performance difference when playing this on 64 bit Vista ... I would be interested in knowing about that. Maybe I will switch over to a dual boot system and make use of 64 bit Vista if I can be convinced through meaningful benchmarks.

Cool ... I guess we will all see how much of that interview is true in just over a month. You have 64 bit Vista and 32 bit Vista I would imagine so you can tell us all if there is indeed a big performance difference when playing this on 64 bit Vista ... I would be interested in knowing about that. Maybe I will switch over to a dual boot system and make use of 64 bit Vista if I can be convinced through meaningful benchmarks.

AnubanUT2

Well I dont have vista 32 bit anymore, I did have it for the first 5 months but when I just got my new computer i made the jump to vista 64 bit. also you wont see a performance increase in video games unless they areoptimised for 64 bit. a game must have 64 bit support in mind to see a performance difference, just like any other program. and currently I'm not aware of any game that gives performance increases for 64 bit games, I think crysis is the first but I could be wrong. and the crysis beta which I have doesn't yet have that feautre, the demo will however. so on october 26-27 there will be benches of crysis flying around the internet and I would imagine people would test this feautre.