gaming with 64bit OS

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AMD_Gamer

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im building a new gaming rig see my thread here http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1251514 i am just wondering if there is anything i should know about gaming on a 64 bit system, i see people taling about having to install the games a certain way and various other things but are the games stable and all work on a 64 bit OS like windows vista ultimate?
 
Look like its gonna be a great gaming machine, Vista Ultimate 64 should work without issues as long as you get latest WHQL'ed drivers for your all stuff, that accordin to forum readings :D
 
Vista 64 Ultimate here and loving it. No problem here with Nvidia beta drivers for Vista 64. Matter of fact, they get better each time.

Definately go to the OS section of the forums and read up on the tips and tricks.

There are some things that can help you stay out of pitfalls i.e. instead of using autorun when installing games, navigate to the dvd and launch the installer as admin. Generally, your going to get used to right clicking and launching as admin a lot. Other than that, it's snappy and pretty and I really like it.
 
Vista 64 is the only way to go. I've never had any problems it's been more than perfect ever since I put it on my brand new rig. Just make sure you download the official windows updates theres some specific gaming ones that fix all the problems people complain about gaming on Vista 64.
 
With how cheap RAM is now, 32-bit is just silly on new builds or upgrading old ones. Decent 4GB RAM for ~$100 isn't uncommon anymore. With that said, Vista64>XP64 for driver support. Companies want their WHQL Vista logo, and they can't get it without Vista64 drivers.
 
What drivers should I be using on ultimate x64?

I have the latest drivers from nvidia's site and my games keep locking up on me.
 
I've been running x64 for over a year with no problems in any games i've tried. In fact, the only real problem I have had with it is the damned Intel Matrix Storage controller and the Asus board running a 4 drive Raid 5 (it blows its cookies when it gets too hot). I just bought a new RAID controller and am hoping to transfer everything over to that array when I get some time. In the meantime, THAK YOU BACKUP AND RESTORE AGENT :D
 
Vista 64,4gigram,8800GT,E6750 runs perfect for me with 169.13 drivers and at my 19" monitor 1280x1024 res I pretty much run Crysis at 30fps or better with the very high tweak I use
 
Check my sig for my specs. With SLI finally running, I can play UT3 at max settings really smooth. Crysis, well that doesn't even support SLI yet so it still runs like poop.

If you want to play DX10 games, you really have no choice but to get Vista, might as well get the 64 bit version so you aren't limited to only 2 gigs of ram.

The latest beta drivers as of yesterday are 169.21. I see a great improvement in my FPS rates in UT3 since I upgraded.
 
I'm guessing the 2 gigs was a reference to running single sticks in dual channel mode for tightest OC timings and dual channel benefits.
 
wrangler said:
Vista 64 Ultimate here and loving it. No problem here with Nvidia beta drivers for Vista 64. Matter of fact, they get better each time.
Click to expand...

+1

Matter of fact games like Crysis run much better if you use the 64bit compiled exe rather than the standard 32bit compiled one.
 
ghostchamber said:
Don't you mean four gigs?

Or if you want to get technical, ~3.5.
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Windows assigns virtual memory to each application and dedicates some of that pool to the OS, in 32bit windows operating systems it assigns the most amount of memory that a 32bit OS can address which is 4Gb, of that 4Gb the application gets 2Gb and the OS gets also 2Gb.

So the most amount of memory each application can address in windows 32bit operating systems is 2Gb, you can alter the OS perameters to assign a different amount but anymore virtual memory assigned to the application reduces the amount given to the OS to manage that application, and this can cause blue screens etc.

This is an entirely different cap to the 4Gb of PHYSICAL memory an OS can address but is limited to 4gb (2+2) for the same reason.

*edit*

Also it's not ~3.5Gb cap for system RAM per your original post, the amount of system RAM the OS can effectively use is decided by how much memory is in the rest of the PC, for example memory on video cards can vary a lot, anywhere from a few Mb to several Gb. The extreme example would be if you went Tri SLI and used 3x768Mb 8800GTX that would be 2.3Gb down the drain, you'd probably be only able to address approx 1.5Gb of system RAM under a 32bit OS.
 
Make sure you get an P35 mobo vs 680i, 680i has problems.
As far as Vista 64 goes, I am running x64 Ultimate and loving it. I haven't had any problems with it yet.
 
Loving my Vx64 - I'll never go back....

SP1 makes it sound like things will get even better here shortly too.
 
Frosteh said:
Windows assigns virtual memory to each application and dedicates some of that pool to the OS, in 32bit windows operating systems it assigns the most amount of memory that a 32bit OS can address which is 4Gb, of that 4Gb the application gets 2Gb and the OS gets also 2Gb.

So the most amount of memory each application can address in windows 32bit operating systems is 2Gb, you can alter the OS perameters to assign a different amount but anymore virtual memory assigned to the application reduces the amount given to the OS to manage that application, and this can cause blue screens etc.

This is an entirely different cap to the 4Gb of PHYSICAL memory an OS can address but is limited to 4gb (2+2) for the same reason.

*edit*

Also it's not ~3.5Gb cap for system RAM per your original post, the amount of system RAM the OS can effectively use is decided by how much memory is in the rest of the PC, for example memory on video cards can vary a lot, anywhere from a few Mb to several Gb. The extreme example would be if you went Tri SLI and used 3x768Mb 8800GTX that would be 2.3Gb down the drain, you'd probably be only able to address approx 1.5Gb of system RAM under a 32bit OS.
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Gotcha. Thanks for the input.
 
I don't know why I read so many trash threads on Vista 64 Ultimate, my new q6600 system fires up and runs smoother and then my laptop ever could do XP Pro SP2.

As far as gaming, no probs here, I installed UT3, UT2k4, Crysis, HL2 Orange Box, and WoW on my computer and they all run/play great, no issues installing or running.
 
Vista x64 Ultimate is the best! Awesome for gaming as well. The ~3gb memory limit for 32bit just won't cut it for long. Crysis in vista with 2gb of memory really stuttered alot for me. Now with 4gb and the 64 bit version there's no stutter at all. :)
 
i have been using xp x64 as my main gaming os for almost a year and i love it. everything works just as good if not better than x86 and have no problem finding drivers. the win2k3 kernel is very fast and i will not switch to vista until absolutely necessary. Also there is no driver signing BS in xp x64 like in vista.
 
MrMike said:
Yes, it uses the 64-bit instruction set and registers which are unused in x86 operations.
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Actually this is incorrect, the registers in most 64bit architecture can be set to either size, if they're 32bit then 2 can be used.

For certain types of calculations 64bit is faster though, so depending on exactly what you're doing, you may or may not see a performance increase, you should never see a performance decrease.
 
Frag0Lution said:
So, how much more strenous is it on the CPU?
Click to expand...

Oh I didn't realize you were asking that. On paper 64-bit binaries run more efficiently than 32-bit binaries. I find this to be true for the most part, but there aren't very many native 64-bit applications still.

32-bit applications are run in WOW64 which requires three additional DLLs to be loaded into memory, but if anyone can actually tell the difference between WOW64 and apps in native 32-bit windows I'd be surprised.

Frosteh said:
Actually this is incorrect, the registers in most 64bit architecture can be set to either size, if they're 32bit then 2 can be used.

For certain types of calculations 64bit is faster though, so depending on exactly what you're doing, you may or may not see a performance increase, you should never see a performance decrease.
Click to expand...

Two sets of registers can be used? How exactly does that work? Do you mean that the CPU automatically will allocate registers to two separate applications?

Wouldn't this actually result in 64-bit Windows being slower for multitasking if this is done at a hardware level, since WoW64 is emulation?
 
I believe the register size can be set for each application. If you're using 32bit registers then you can use twice as many.

Most 64bit architecture can run 32bit and 64bit software at the same time. If I start running 64bit software like for example Crysis 64bit, my 32bit applications don't all stop working, they carry on as before.
 
thanks for the help guy my build should be sweet then :)

a little bit off topic but did i read something about iTunes and the iPhone not working in vista 64?
 
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