Hi guys,
i've been away in Thailand for about 7 years, kinda feel like i've been out of the 'top spec' hardware arena for that long, although i can get 'most' stuff i need, just never as easy as it was while i was living in the UK and getting OcUK to send me over the latest stuff (used to be mad poster on here many years ago, back in the days of getting the old Athlons from 1.2Ghz up to around 2Ghz with 25 million fans! - but cant remember my old login / password)...
So anyway, i am looking to upgrade my system now that we have recently moved to Cyprus and will be coming to UK on holiday at the end of May, so need to get all my new system's components decided on before we get there....
Looking at one of those juicy QX6700 chaps (2.66Ghz, would be nice to get up to 3Ghz) and i am assuming this is 64 bit? would this mean that i should get 64 bit OS to ensure i maximize the performance or what?..
Although i have run XP pro on my main system for around the last 4-5 years or so (or whenever it came out) i recently (about 4 months ago) got a copy of Vista Business edition... which i kinda like, particularly as it seems to handle multiple monitor setups slightly better although my new Matrox Perhillia Triple screen card doesnt seem to like Vista all that much, which is just as well, as for 3D, it sucks.. (anyone want to buy it? brand new!)...
Just read a test / review on HardOCP which was looking at the performance gain of the Quad core architecture over single & dual core using Supreme Commander and the findings in regard to the performance differences between XP & Vista were even more interesting..
Anyone who has had experience going from 32 bit OS to 64 bit OS would be great to hear from, as either way, i will be upgrading OS at same time as main system, i will sell my old system with the new Vista already installed...
BTW - If people are wondering why i may be crazy spending the extra sheckles on the QX Series of Quad cores vs a high end Dual Core, i basically push multi tasking to it's limits (hence needing 3 monitors vs even the 2 i run now)... I run several companies, one is a Web design company (www.4dflash.com) so when designing websites, i tend to have Fireworks / Dreamweaver, Flash and sometimes Swift 3D open all at the same time (spread across the multiple screens so i can drag and drop from one app to the other) - in addition, i run an Aerial Photography company and regularly have to 'touch up' images of up to 8Mb in size which really sucks CPU power, especially when applying affects at full res.. I also do a lot of Video editing and currently, a 1 hour video presentation takes around 4 hours to render, similarly, when creating 3D amimations in Swift 3D, at full res (HD) it can take around 3 minutes to render EACH frame of a 800 frame animation...
The biggest issue for me, is that in addition to all the work programs i have running, i also usually have Outlook 2007 running on the 3rd screen, along with MSN, iTunes and maybe a couple of browser windows as well as my FTP program... The worst problem is in terms of work-flow... Particular, when i am either rendering full res 3D scenes, or rendering a full length Movie (pinnacle Studio) my entire system is completely bogged down and it is very difficult to do anything else while it is rendering, meaning i have to wait like 12 hours till it has finished before i can do anything else with my PC...
From what i have heard, the QX Quad Core processor is going to really help relieve my system from the abuse i give it, i dont like banging the sides of performance limitations so it is most definately time to upgrade...
So, 64 bit or not 64 bit OS??
Finally, just so you know, i intend on using an Abit IN9 32X Max board with the QX6700 and Some super quick (1150Mhz) 2GB RAM..
Sorry post was so long, first post here on OcUK for like 6 years so feel like i have to make up for lost time
Thanks for any advice guys,
Cheers
Andy
i've been away in Thailand for about 7 years, kinda feel like i've been out of the 'top spec' hardware arena for that long, although i can get 'most' stuff i need, just never as easy as it was while i was living in the UK and getting OcUK to send me over the latest stuff (used to be mad poster on here many years ago, back in the days of getting the old Athlons from 1.2Ghz up to around 2Ghz with 25 million fans! - but cant remember my old login / password)...
So anyway, i am looking to upgrade my system now that we have recently moved to Cyprus and will be coming to UK on holiday at the end of May, so need to get all my new system's components decided on before we get there....
Looking at one of those juicy QX6700 chaps (2.66Ghz, would be nice to get up to 3Ghz) and i am assuming this is 64 bit? would this mean that i should get 64 bit OS to ensure i maximize the performance or what?..
Although i have run XP pro on my main system for around the last 4-5 years or so (or whenever it came out) i recently (about 4 months ago) got a copy of Vista Business edition... which i kinda like, particularly as it seems to handle multiple monitor setups slightly better although my new Matrox Perhillia Triple screen card doesnt seem to like Vista all that much, which is just as well, as for 3D, it sucks.. (anyone want to buy it? brand new!)...
Just read a test / review on HardOCP which was looking at the performance gain of the Quad core architecture over single & dual core using Supreme Commander and the findings in regard to the performance differences between XP & Vista were even more interesting..
Anyone who has had experience going from 32 bit OS to 64 bit OS would be great to hear from, as either way, i will be upgrading OS at same time as main system, i will sell my old system with the new Vista already installed...
BTW - If people are wondering why i may be crazy spending the extra sheckles on the QX Series of Quad cores vs a high end Dual Core, i basically push multi tasking to it's limits (hence needing 3 monitors vs even the 2 i run now)... I run several companies, one is a Web design company (www.4dflash.com) so when designing websites, i tend to have Fireworks / Dreamweaver, Flash and sometimes Swift 3D open all at the same time (spread across the multiple screens so i can drag and drop from one app to the other) - in addition, i run an Aerial Photography company and regularly have to 'touch up' images of up to 8Mb in size which really sucks CPU power, especially when applying affects at full res.. I also do a lot of Video editing and currently, a 1 hour video presentation takes around 4 hours to render, similarly, when creating 3D amimations in Swift 3D, at full res (HD) it can take around 3 minutes to render EACH frame of a 800 frame animation...
The biggest issue for me, is that in addition to all the work programs i have running, i also usually have Outlook 2007 running on the 3rd screen, along with MSN, iTunes and maybe a couple of browser windows as well as my FTP program... The worst problem is in terms of work-flow... Particular, when i am either rendering full res 3D scenes, or rendering a full length Movie (pinnacle Studio) my entire system is completely bogged down and it is very difficult to do anything else while it is rendering, meaning i have to wait like 12 hours till it has finished before i can do anything else with my PC...
From what i have heard, the QX Quad Core processor is going to really help relieve my system from the abuse i give it, i dont like banging the sides of performance limitations so it is most definately time to upgrade...
So, 64 bit or not 64 bit OS??
Finally, just so you know, i intend on using an Abit IN9 32X Max board with the QX6700 and Some super quick (1150Mhz) 2GB RAM..
Sorry post was so long, first post here on OcUK for like 6 years so feel like i have to make up for lost time
Thanks for any advice guys,
Cheers
Andy