64bit Vista better on Sagers than 32bit?

I read on the forums that Sager drivers work better with 64bit, so I should use 64bit instead of 32bit. I just recently got my Sager 2090 and it has 64bit installed on it already. I am running with 2 gigs of RAM and I was wondering whether I should install 32bit because of better compatibility or stay with 64bit?

Are there any reasons to go to 32bit over 64 bit? Are there any reasons to stay at 64bit? I want to prepare for the future as well.

 

I have 64bit on my sager 9260, and i thaught it would be nice (i have 3gb of ram btw) and i find when i game, the game crashes a few times a day, for no reason. (Mainly Oblivion) I have heard that gaming can be unstable in 64bit, but i haven't had these claims comfirmed for me.

I am formating my drive and going 32bit, as there is no "Real" benefits of 64bit at the moment. Programs and games just aren't designed to utilise it.

As for the drivers, i have absolutely no idea, wait for Gophn or Chaz to answer that, but if you are gaming, which i'm sure you are, just stick with 32bit, i think it will save you hassle in the end.

 

I'm worried about a few things:

1. In the future, 64bit will be more compatible and better and then I'd have to install 64bit again to use some 64bit only things.

2. The hassle involved in installing 32bit from 64bit and vice versa if I ever need to in the future.

If I go with 32bit now, is it safe to say that I can keep using 32bit for the next 4 years or so, or would it be likely that I'd have to reinstall 64bit.

 

I've seen other posters on the forum that are running Vista 64-bit and Oblivion with out problems, so I suspect your problem may be related to something else.



@ Bananas

I recommend you try the 64-bit OS (which should be your default), and unless you have problems that you can confirm are related to running on 64-bit stick with it. In the long run 64-bit will have the longer support cycle. (Microsoft has already stated the date they will stop providing support and updates for their 32-bit OS(s) ).

 

Hmm, maybe they have better 64bit drivers than me... I can't think of any other reason that the game would just randomly crash like that, my computer is only a few days old.

 

I'm the one with oblivion and Vista x64.. Never had a crash. The only time I had oblivion crash was when I installed about 30 unofficial user made expantions running on it.. and even thats rare.. and mostly happens on exit as one of the oblivion mods doesn't exit properly..

On a clean install tho oblivion ran 12plus hours on my longest run.. Had a extra clamp fan pointed at my laptop that kept it running coool..

 

Just read some stuff about 64bit Vista having major compatibility problems with things like printers, scanners, etc. I'm going to entering college with this laptop and I don't want to have problems with the school printers or other things. Would it be wise for a college student like me to install 32bit or should I stick with 64bit?

And when do you expect 64bit to be completely stable with driver issues and compatibility issues. When it does, would I have to revert back to 64bit or stay 32bit (assuming I change).

Lastly, how difficult is the process of going from 64bit to 32bit and vice versa. I have never reformatted a computer before.

 

I am using vista ultiumate 64 bit and have no problems at all with drivers right now. Been playing games like battlefiled 2 and 2142, supreme commander, c & c 3, far cry. fear etc. Most applciation like visual basic, photoshop, word work great!! No complaints at all! And crysis will be uptimized for 64 bt, not that it will make much of a difference . Oh and been running emulators like nulldc, n64 ones, ps1, mame etc and np. Runs like a dream for me and i wouldn t go back.

 

Don't bother with the 64-bit. There is no need to get 64-bit unless you absolutely have to run 64-bit software. The 64-bit Vista gets basically no support from anyone and it will give you more headaches than anything.

 

Yeh, if they have "older" printers or i don't really know what colleges have, but they might not be compatible, but theres only one way to find out...

And Chaz is right, there's no reason to go 64bit ATM, and if you NEED to convert later, just backup your files, format, and reinstall. It's not the end of the world.

 

Oblivion is not a good game to evaluate 64-bit "stability". It's notoriously difficult to get stable on a 32-bit OS like XP. There's a great topic about it in the official Oblivion forums.

Namely make sure that:

1. Your drivers are all up to date
2. You don't have nasty codecs installed (like Nero)
3. You have latest DX9

There are additional suggestions as well. I had awful stability issues with Oblivion. I followed the Oblivion forum post and it cleaned up all stability issues perfectly.

I'd work that angle before blaming your woes on 64-bit OS.

 

Thanks for that.

 

About 64 bit os, there are wmulators that are only 64 bit, so if you are into that might aswell get 64 bit. Like i said before didn t notice any probs with the softwares i run here and my emul;atos like the one for the gamecube works

 

Well, the thing is I already have 64bit installed on my 2090. Is it worth the hassle for me to switch over to 32bit now?

I think I will be using 64bit a bit longer as I have not had any issues with it yet. What commonly used softwares are known to have compatibility issues with 64bit? Most of the ones I've used haven't had problems yet.

 

Well... im playing bioshock pretty well on 64bit... and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas.

Some problems with crashing comes with the UFO: Afterlight, but if I don't spam my clicks, its fine.

 

It really depends on the software you plan to run and any peripheral hardware that you need to use. In my case, I am running the 64 bit Vista on my 2090 and have had no problems whatsoever with any of my software or hardware.

As for your printer at colllege, I have it networked with 3 machines running XP without any issues. I am printing off of a network printer installed on my XP desktop machine with no problems and no difficulty in set-up. The print is an All-In-One that is at least 2 or 3 years old. I have had no problems with any of my software. I do not know if it is because the printer is supported or that it is installed on an XP machine, but it does work. You will just have to wait and try yours out. I am sure a lot of college students will be using the 64 bit OS though, so it was likely considered by the college.

The only games I use are Warcraft III and Starcraft. I haven't had a chance to really play either for the past week since I've had mine, and probably won't for at least another 2 weeks with my current schedule, but I did install them and test them out very quickly. Starcraft had to be run in compatability mode for the colors and resolution and worked fine after that. Warcraft III worked without any issues immediately after installing.

If you want to avoid a potential hassle of switching to 32 bit and then later switching back to 64 bit, try your software and hardware out with the pre-installed 64 bit OS. If it works, then don't bother switching and be sure to keep up to date on any patches that come out for your software and OS. If something you need doesn't work, you can either switch to 32 bit or see if a suitable replacement would be more worthwhile.

You could find many threads like this on these and other forums and people are pretty split over which one to go with. The reason is that we all use different configurations and applications, some of which are supported for the 64 bit OS and some of which are not.