Thread: Should I switch to Vista 64 bit?

  1. #1
    Registered User skaldicpoet9's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    15

    Should I switch to Vista 64 bit?

    I recently purchased a new laptop and found out it has AMD64 architecture but was only installed with a 32 bit version of Vista (Home Premium). I was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages (if any) would be if I were to upgrade to a 64 bit edition of Vista? That and if my computer can adequately run it of course.

    I have a HP Pavilion dv2845se

    2.1GHz AMD Turion(TM) 64 X2
    3.4gb of RAM

    If any could help I would be much appreciative

  2. #2
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    Your computer is capable of running a 64-bit OS, but I doubt that you'll see any great benefit from it. The most likely scenario where you would benefit is if you have more than 4GB of RAM.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  3. #3
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Note that with Windows you can't "upgrade" to 64-bit. It requires a clean re-installation and in which case I'd suggest XP x64 instead.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  4. #4
    Registered User hk_mp5kpdw's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Northern Virginia/Washington DC Metropolitan Area
    Posts
    3,817
    Also, isn't the driver support for the 64-bit version of Vista supposed to be far inferior to the 32-bit version? Thought I heard that somewhere... I could be wrong.
    "Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods."
    -Christopher Hitchens

  5. #5
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Most likely it is. Drivers for 64-bit are generally developed after 32-bit drivers and since Vista broke 99% of the drivers out there...
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  6. #6
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    Quote Originally Posted by hk_mp5kpdw View Post
    Also, isn't the driver support for the 64-bit version of Vista supposed to be far inferior to the 32-bit version? Thought I heard that somewhere... I could be wrong.
    For vista it's likely to be better than for XP, since Vista, to a large extent, needs new drivers to support it anyways, and it shouldn't be that much overhead to make the driver do 64-bit.

    For XP the situation was that XP-64 came out long after the initial XP release, so drivers originally written for XP in 32-bit code would have to be ported individually.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  7. #7
    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    3,459
    As a side note, I'd have to say that's a nice laptop. Almost out does my desktop PC :S

  8. #8
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Well, I can sure say it sure has a lot of ram. Very nice.
    However, it has a poor mobile processor. Shame.
    But it does look good, it does.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  9. #9
    Registered User skaldicpoet9's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    15
    Quote Originally Posted by matsp View Post
    Your computer is capable of running a 64-bit OS, but I doubt that you'll see any great benefit from it. The most likely scenario where you would benefit is if you have more than 4GB of RAM.
    Yes, this is what I thought but I wasn't quite sure. Well, at least I don't have to go through a long drawn out install process now

    Thanks for the help everyone, I appreciate it a lot.

    Quote Originally Posted by Elysia View Post
    Well, I can sure say it sure has a lot of ram. Very nice.
    However, it has a poor mobile processor. Shame.
    But it does look good, it does.
    Yeah, unfortunately the processor is a little on the slow side but I can still run 95% of the apps that I really want to use. It is a good laptop though, it doesn't run nearly as hot as my old laptop did, not to mention I got it for a very nice price.

  10. #10
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    At 2100MHz, it's comparable to a Desktop Athlon 64 X2 4000+, which isn't a bad processor in itself.

    Calling it slow is obviously a question of how you define slow, but my desktop here at work is "slower", since it's only running 1800MHz (Ok, so it's probably about par to the AMD version above, since it's a Core2 Duo). And it's plenty fast enough for what I do.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  11. #11
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Out of scope
    Posts
    4,079
    Quote Originally Posted by skaldicpoet9 View Post
    Yeah, unfortunately the processor is a little on the slow side but I can still run 95% of the apps that I really want to use. It is a good laptop though, it doesn't run nearly as hot as my old laptop did, not to mention I got it for a very nice price.
    What applications are you looking to run that a dual-core processor at 2.1Ghz can't handle? At that range it shouldn't be a matter of can/can't but only a matter of how well it can. I should imagine you're talking about some extremely heavy computational stuff.
    Sent from my iPadŽ

  12. #12
    Internet Superhero
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    964
    Quote Originally Posted by matsp View Post
    At 2100MHz, it's comparable to a Desktop Athlon 64 X2 4000+, which isn't a bad processor in itself.

    Calling it slow is obviously a question of how you define slow, but my desktop here at work is "slower", since it's only running 1800MHz (Ok, so it's probably about par to the AMD version above, since it's a Core2 Duo). And it's plenty fast enough for what I do.

    --
    Mats
    An 1800 mHz C2D will outdo a 2100 mHz Turion X2 any day...
    How I need a drink, alcoholic in nature, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.

  13. #13
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,195
    If you have Vista Home Premium, you should upgrade to XP. Id recommend 32 bit unless you need 64 bit, because there are a lot of hardware compatability issues with 64 bit, most manufacturers dont have 64 bit drivers rolled out yet.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. converting 64 bit time and date
    By pastitprogram in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 07-02-2008, 03:53 PM
  2. Update code for Vista 64
    By mdoland in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 06-02-2008, 04:34 AM
  3. 64 bit testing
    By DrSnuggles in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 11-20-2007, 03:20 AM
  4. Writing 64 bit value in hex to a string
    By rahulgbe in forum C Programming
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 03-18-2006, 01:15 PM
  5. Bit processing in C
    By eliomancini in forum C Programming
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 06-07-2005, 10:54 AM