64bit and 32bit

[HawkAgent]

Hi,

I'm about to buy a new PC since my old one is already 6 years old. It's gonna be a 64bit PC. However, I want to be able to play old 32bit games, which I heard it's only possible with a 32bit OS. Is it possible to install a 32bit OS on a 64bit machine? I want a system with dual boot 64bit vista and 32bit XP.

[nitroshift]

Just make sure you install Windows XP BEFORE Windows Vista. The rest will be fine.

Edited March 1, 2007 by nitroshift

[HawkAgent]

Ah thanks for the reply. Is it also true 32bit programs will run without problems 64bit pc, as long the OS is 32bit as well?

[puntoMX]

Yes, it will work fine.

You have to see it like this: The CPU has the fuctions to run 64bit APPS but works well, and for intel, even better on a 32bit OS. Like most people would say, stay away from VISTA for next 6 months or so .

[ripken204]

x64 would be the best choice right now... just get yourself a 64bit cpu, do they even make 32bit cpus anymore?

[nmX.Memnoch]

stay away from VISTA for next 6 months or so .

Have you tried it? It's not nearly as bad as people are making it out to be. Most of those same people said the same exact things when XP was released.

Really, the only thing you need to make sure of is that drivers are available for all of your hardware. There may be a few software compatibility issues as well...but it's not nearly as bad as some people make it sound.

do they even make 32bit cpus anymore?

Core Duo's are 32-bit only.

[ripken204]

thats what i mean tho. they make Core 2 Duo's now...

[nmX.Memnoch]

They're still making Core Duo's for laptops. Or at least you can still by laptops with them as a cheaper alternative.

Edited March 1, 2007 by nmX.Memnoch

[puntoMX]

They're still making Core Duo's for laptops. Or at least you can still by laptops with them as a cheaper alternative.

Cheaper, they are about the same price now. When you buy old stock you could get is cheaper but the CPU new is the same price.

6 Months would be a nice time to fix a lot of "driver bugs", last info I got from VISTA was there problem with loads of printers. I have VISTA runing on a system here, new laptops are stuffed with it that I sell but for now, to me, it doesn´t give me any better options then XP. Even people ask me to sell a XP licence after 1 month using VISTA. I also tell them the same as you are saying about VISTA but people are not willing to change there habits so fast... Well, time will tell...

[nmX.Memnoch]

Every laptop I looked at had a price increase going from a Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo of the same clock speed.

Printers are having problems with Vista because the printer manufacturers are being lazy and/or greedy. What do I mean by greedy? Take a look at this HP page for the statement about drivers for a Photosmart 1000:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...872〈=en

Pretty much ALL printer drivers need to be re-written. The reason is because Vista no longer allows kernel-mode drivers. This was changed for the stability of the system. A bad kernel-mode printer driver could take a system down in a heartbeat...not a good thing when you're running a large print server. So now Vista (and Longhorn Server) only allow user-mode drivers. Basically this means if it's a bad driver then that piece of hardware, and only that piece of hardware, will stop working instead of taking the entire operating system with it.

[ssgatbliss]

stay away from VISTA for next 6 months or so .

Have you tried it? It's not nearly as bad as people are making it out to be. Most of those same people said the same exact things when XP was released.

Really, the only thing you need to make sure of is that drivers are available for all of your hardware. There may be a few software compatibility issues as well...but it's not nearly as bad as some people make it sound.

do they even make 32bit cpus anymore?

Core Duo's are 32-bit only.

I would have to agree, the only issue I have with Vista is my microphone won't work until the drivers are updated on my X-Fi card. I have to say I really like Vista. I installed Ultimate on my PC and Home Premium on my daughters. The built in Parental controls and UAC are actually a good thing for her and the auto backup is nice too. Without buying extra software I can monitor what she is doing while setting time limits that she can access the computer. The UAC keeps her from downloading all those free screensavers and I have it set to back up all the info once a week. Could you set all this up under XP? Sure, but it's so much easier in Vista. Also the wireless setup (WPA2) and filesharing was point and click. I was able to get academic versions of the software so I didn't pay anywhere near what it goes for retail. I also added in Office 2007 and that is also much more user friendly. I've had no problems with games or dev software (EQ2, BF2142, Doom3, Halflife2, MATLAB, Visual Studio 2005). I really don't see what people are complaining about other than just to be heard.

I saw a post before where someone said they had a high end system with a dual core 2.2Ghz processor and 2GB of memory. I hate to tell him that's not high end in today's market. Vista is today and you need todays hardware. If you want to run it on a min spec machine then expect minimum results. I'm running it on an older Asus AV8 AGP board with an AMD 185 Opteron OCd to 3.05 Ghz and 2GB of memory/RAID 0/ATI X1950 pro. My machine runs vista flawlessly and I get a rating of 5.5 out of 6 on the Vista performance index (memory is lowest score, it's older 3200 corsair memory running at 333 due to all slots being filled).