Help Chossing OS

I am trying to choose the Windows OS best suited for gaming.
How much performance does 64-bit provide over 32-bit?
XP or Vista, maybe Windows 7?
I heard that 64-bit systems have problems with 32-bit applications, how much of a problem is this?

 

Vista because if you buy now, you upgrade win 7 for free and win 7 beta has been satisfied customer so it will be good when it released.

 

ok the old 32 vs 64 debate. which one is better is up to what you do. the only way you are going to notice a diff. is if you you are doing heavy CAD or 3d rendering or heavy gaming. and as far the only programs that i have ran into issues are older than dirt and outdated. almost every thing will run on x64 nowadays. and get vista as stated already. but if you want to wait for 7 then do it. it is awsome. best os MS has EVER made.

 

Get Vista. Sp2 is coming out in the next 2 weeks, which means more stability!

 

there are 32- and 64-bit versions of some programs available,
will the 32-bit program still run on 64-bit os, just not as well as the 64-bit program?

 

yes 32bit programs will run on x64. and there is no loss of performance.

 

get x64 vista, then wait for win 7 final......

 

I thought you had to buy vista late in June to get the free upgrade rights to windows 7? Maybe I am remembering wrong, but I was waiting to buy a new computer until July so I could upgrade. Does any one know for sure?

 

right now it is july 1 09 which sucks i bought mine last month.

 

Vista is more humanized
I have been using XP for several years and install many patch,
can not get used to it when I use Vista, but it's much safer than XP
choose it up to yourself

 

You could check my sig (I would need to add a few updates to the post sometime soon...)

One area where 64Bit is an advantage over 32Bit is when habdling large files.

 

There's a tiny performance degration when running 32bit apps in 64bit OS. If you have modern computers, you won't notice the difference.

 

If you need one now, go for Vista. Don't listen to those fanboys saying XP > Vista. Personally, what I deeply hate about XP is that I have to install all the drivers for my machine to work properly, unlike Vista on my dekstop, all I needed to install was sound.

If you could wait or risk your machine with a pre-release build, go for Windows 7.

 

hey folks.. any idea how much would it cost to upgrade to Windows7 from vista(bought back 9 months before)... whenever they launch the Windows7..

 

I don't think many XP users think its 'better' than Vista after SP1. The main point is backward compatibility issues (compatibility mode is not as good as advertised, unfortunately). This includes lots of free little apps the OP may be used to, but which are XP only (Vista will have a payware equivalent). If the OP has no old hardware or apps, then yeah, Vista (or preferably 7) should be fine. Otherwise, they need to do some googling to make sure Vista will be as trouble free as XP.

The other point is space and resources. If the OP is going for a medium range system, then probably something slim and fast like XP will be better. Otherwise if they don't mind having 7-20++ GB of Vista (compared to 1.5 XP) then fine. If gaming, XP still offers a slight improvement. Stability is a non issue - both systems are virtually bullet proof now, although Vista is a bit of a nanny and will probably do more to stop users from getting into stupid mistakes. But if you're >12 years old and moderately tech-savvy you should stay out of trouble with XP on your own.

 

so is the only advantage of 64-bit systems being able to 4 Gb of RAM?
are they faster in any other way?

 

They can be/are faster for large files - large meaning GB, maybe hundreds of MB.

As a "normal user" just browsing, MS Office, you wouldn't notice a difference.

 

any benefit for gaming?

 

If the game is available in 64Bit - yes.

If it is 32Bit either none or actually a decrease in performance.

 

is it possible to dual boot 32- and 64-bit os?
how well will that work?

 

It is definitely possible with say 32Bit XP and 64Bit Vista, I believe a fellow forum member did that.

32Bit Vista and 64Bit Vista should be possible too - but I'm not sure how you'd do it.

Remember though that Vista will need a lot of HDD space - ad 64Bit needs a bit more than 32Bit.