64bit Vista and gaming in general

I didn't want to hijack Mallybum's thread but I note with interest the number of people enjoying a stable Vista 64 installation. On Vista's release, it was taken as read that the 64bit version was pointless for gaming, due to its refusal to allow unsigned drivers and general incompatability.

This situation seems to have been resolved and thus leads to my question: Is Vista64 now a superior alternative to the 32bit version for gaming purposes?

The main advantage to my eyes would seem to be the vastly improved memory access. I want to use all my memory, not just 3-and-a-bit gigs.

All input on this issue gratefully received.

Provided you've not got legacy hardware or old games with buggy driver-based copy protection schemes (e.g. games protected by early versions of the copy protection/malware suite Starforce) you absolutely want to use/access, I'd say yes.

If you've got new and reasonably mainstream hardware and is willing to risk losing the ability to run some older non-cracked games, then I'd say go for it.

Thanks, Numa - speedy response and just what I wanted to hear. Q6700 and a pair of 8800GTX and I've always steered clear of Starforce

Argh - except Dreamfall. Had enough problems getting that to run on Vista32. Ah well, sacrifices must be made.

I use 64 and i like it for MMo and racing just not for Frag games.

I still prefer XP 64 bit over Vista 64 bit, however, there are a lot more drivers for Vista 64. Going 64 bit is a good decision. Just do your homework and ensure that you have all the appropriate driver you will need.

Is in situ upgrading from 32 to 64 a straightforward and viable option, or is (eek) reformatting and clean install the way to go?

reformat and clean install

Had some issues with Vista64 Ultimate, and memory modules (P35 chipset) whenever i put 4 modules everything goes to hell specialy gaming !!!
When they are 3 modules in (1gb modules) everything works like a charm !!!
Done all updates bios and motherboard drivers, updates for Vista nothing helps not even different brand modules.
Gaming is ok in GW i have just screen black for a second before entering an area everything else works fine!
And yeah FPS games are still much slower on Vista !

Guild wars doesn't run in 64 bit mode. It runs in a 32 bit emulation mode under 64 bit.

Thanks, guys

I not had any probs with vista 64 ultimate which Ive had since day of release. I find it is faster and crashes less often than XP, and is generally far better.
Never had any problems getting drivers either, but in any event, you can set compatibilty so it emulates XP

I could never go back

XP compatibility for what? Not for drivers... and if you could... Vista 64 bit has more support that XP 64 bit, so why would we do that? Also, Vista 64 crashes just as often as 32 bit. It is faster, but saying that it is better is a matter of opinion. I personally think XP 32/64 bit are much better for gamers than Vista 32/64 hands down. This is because of driver compatibility and and established OS that people have been supporting for years. Vista is still a baby and has many problems. I am a fan of it, however, I steer clear of it for gaming for many reasons.

Right now, I am testing out Vista Service Pack 1 to see if they have improved their gaming support (which they promised). So far, so good, however, XP still runs games better with less crashes.

Heh, will the official release candidate of Vista SP1 beat Windows 7 to the press? Seems like Vista's gonna have a pretty short life.

Think I'm set on getting 64bit now - just bought me some memory.

Ballistix Tracer 240-pin DIMM (with LEDs) DDR2 PC2-6400 • 4-4-4-12 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-800 • 2.2V • 256Meg x 64

...8 gigs of that. Used the Crucial memory configurator widget, so I know it's compatible with my nForce 680i SLI

/Agreed

I am not investing too much of my time in Vista. It sucks that I have to support it here at work... figures

Hehe - you posted while I was editing ^_^

Matters not, I'll go with what's the best now, then see what Windows 7 has to offer (looks like they're delaying it until at least 2010 to sell as many Vistas as they can! 2010 is a delay? oO)

I was in the same situation. I had Vista32, and 4 gigs of RAM, this was half a year ago.

I've upgraded since then to Vista64 and never looked back. I don't think I've noticed any differences, which could be good or bad, when it comes to performance/compatibility.

The only game I play that has full 64-bit support, is Crysis.

The main reason for me is the proper memory addressing. When more games/apps support 64bit, that will be a bonus. I just wants big memories

anything above four gigs is really lost in games. Unless you are running multiple game clients, which I do. However, most people don't run multiple accounts on the same system.

GWx2 count?

Anyhoo, I'm now seriously confused about the whole 64bit Vista thing. Are 64bit and 32bit Vista separate products, or does the one disc contain both versions?

I have the upgrade version of Vista Home Premium - will this contain a 64 bit version, or will I have to start from scratch and buy a whole new, extortionately overpriced Vista installation?

I have Windows Vista Ultimate, the copy I have has 2 discs, one 32-bit version and one 64-bit version.

I like physical RAM as much as the next guy, but I can't turn virtual paging off and play Crysis, it screams for more memory: and I have 4 gigs, DDR2-1066, PC8500.