Vista 32bit v 64bit for gaming

Banzai_Joe · 5 Aug 2008 at 10:07

Couldn't really find the best forum to post this in, sorry if it's in the wrong place.

Ok, as the title suggests, is there really a big difference in gaming performance between 32 and 64 bit vista?

Obviously the extra 2GB of ram for 64bit helps out, but are any games optimised/coded for 64bit?

Does anyone know of any direct comparison benchmarks i could look at?

Basically, i'm wondering whether to add a 24" tft to my pc spec (in sig below). However with only 32bit vista ultimate, would my 4870, 3GHz E4500 and 2Gb of ram handle 1920x1220 resolution for top end games like Crysis et al?
Would 64bit help in these situations?
Or should i go for a 22" tft and game at 1650x1050?

All advice most appreciated, thanks

bledd · 5 Aug 2008 at 10:34

xp64 or vista64, that's the question you should ask

Banzai_Joe · 5 Aug 2008 at 10:47

lol, nope, its Vista only fella! just looking for benchmark comparison between 32 and 64 bit.
XP not required thanks!

TwistNut · 5 Aug 2008 at 11:12

64 is the winner it looks a lot nicer even better if your get a tft screen

NeoNemesis · 5 Aug 2008 at 14:56

I didnt realise that 64bit Vista looks any different??

Banzai_Joe · 5 Aug 2008 at 15:06

Me neither. How so?

mame · 5 Aug 2008 at 20:02

nor me ?

pingwing · 5 Aug 2008 at 21:09

Theres no difference between vista 32 and 64 other than the ram limitations of the 32bit version (and the odvious fact one is 32bit and the other is 64bit). for gaming they have almost exactly the same results, but get on to 64 now before 32gig of ram is a minimum for running games......

BENdage · 5 Aug 2008 at 21:15

It really depends on whether the game you want to play needs more than 3gb of ram, if it does, vista 64 will perform better. Likewise, if the game is written for 64 bit code (None are at the mo) then vista 64 will be required.

Althulas · 5 Aug 2008 at 21:57

Being able to use 4G of memory speeds up game level loading and makes vista smoother so go for the 64bit version.

platinum87 · 6 Aug 2008 at 00:33

i dont know any 64bit games (mainstream)...

so your still running 32bit software on 64bit...

its basically 32bit, but your able to use more ram etc.. when games and other stuff will be in 64bit would be in the next few hundred million years

fergie128 · 6 Aug 2008 at 00:40

Deffo go for 64 bit Vista. You will have no problems playing any games on it whatsoever (well I certainly havent anyway

)

MikeHunt79 · 6 Aug 2008 at 01:10

Most games are 32 bit tho, so will it be able to use more than 2gb of ram?

VortexA1 · 6 Aug 2008 at 02:06

Well even if the game doesn't need more than 2gb it means you don't have to close your other apps to free the space before playing the game.

nikebee · 6 Aug 2008 at 02:20

Honestly, if they're the same price then why are you even bothering to ask this question?

64bit all the way.

Performance will be perhaps slightly better in places on a 64bit OS over a 32bit OS, you've got the added bonus of a higher limitation of the amount of RAM that your system can use.

With low memory prices at the moment, and brilliant support for both Vista and 64bit Operating Systems I really can't see any reason at all to stay at 32bit.

MikeHunt79 · 6 Aug 2008 at 02:20

VortexA1 said:
Well even if the game doesn't need more than 2gb it means you don't have to close your other apps to free the space before playing the game.

Yep, I guess so. I'm running 64-bit, so I'm just curious really.

nikebee · 6 Aug 2008 at 02:25

TwistNut said:
64 is the winner it looks a lot nicer even better if your get a tft screen

NeoNemesis said:
I didnt realise that 64bit Vista looks any different??

k.Jacko said:
Me neither. How so?

mame said:
nor me ?

It doesn't look any better at all, can't think why somebody would claim in all honesty?

There's no visual difference between a 32bit OS and a 64bit OS, whether your running Vista or otherwise.

I've got Vista Home Premium 64bit on my main machine, and Vista Home Premium 32bit on my HTPC, so I've used 64bit and 32bit versions of Vista pretty extensively since it's release.

If your worried about any Vista woes, then just ensure you buy one that comes with Service Pack 1 or make that the first thing you do during your build (downloading/installing SP1) if you don't buy one with SP1 on the disk.

It fixes a multitude of niggling issues and most of the major faults people have come up with.

VortexA1 · 6 Aug 2008 at 02:35

nikebee said:
It doesn't look any better at all, can't think why somebody would claim in all honesty?

There's no visual difference between a 32bit OS and a 64bit OS, whether your running Vista or otherwise.

I've got Vista Home Premium 64bit on my main machine, and Vista Home Premium 32bit on my HTPC, so I've used 64bit and 32bit versions of Vista pretty extensively since it's release.

If your worried about any Vista woes, then just ensure you buy one that comes with Service Pack 1 or make that the first thing you do during your build (downloading/installing SP1) if you don't buy one with SP1 on the disk.

It fixes a multitude of niggling issues and most of the major faults people have come up with.

Exactly - no visual difference between the 64bit and 32bit premium...however there is a difference between basic and premium ; perhaps that's where the confusion came in.

Yep - Service Pack 1 sorted out my niggling issues

.

nikebee · 6 Aug 2008 at 02:46

VortexA1 said:
however there is a difference between basic and premium ; perhaps that's where the confusion came in.

Ah... yeah 'course! Could be that, since Vista Basic doesn't use Aero and Vista Premium does!

That would explain it I guess!