Tri boot vista x64, vista x86 and xp x86 on raid0 in 6831fx

Hi guys I need a little help here. I recently got 2 320gb 7k320 and am planning to put them in my 6831fx for raid0. I was hoping to tri boot with vista x64, vista x86 and xp x86. vista x86 and xp x86 are intended solely for gaming(xp for older games & vista x86 for directx10 games) and the vista x64 for everything else. So my question is can this be done? Any suggestions as to how i can do this?

on a side note... what are some common programs that are not compatible with vista x64 (sorry i've never used x64 before). Any help will be greatly appreciated =)

 

You do understand that DX10 games run better under Vista 64 or if they have no x64 extensions runs the same as x86 (personally feels like they also run a bit better), that isn't an issue? The more logical thing would be to dual boot XP 32-bit (backwards compatible 32-bit and older programs and older games) and Vista 64-bit (64-bit programs and DX10 games).

 

the thing is i wanna to game without antivirus and other sort of junk that would be found in a normal OS i was planning to make the foot print small with nlite and vlite. so u are saying normal games such as cod4 would run better on vista x64 than vista x86?

 

COD4 isn't a DX10 game, if you absolutely wanna squeeze every once of performance out of the game run it under Windows XP. This is only because Windows XP does have a smaller footprint then both Vista x86 and x64. You can also get away with a lot more tweaks in XP then in Vista. Now I'm not 100% sure about COD:WaW though.

I switched to Vista 64-bit pretty much exclusively now on my primary desktop and notebook, I do have an older notebook with XP and a couple of my other machines have small XP partitions. I hardly ever use them, my friend uses one of my PCs here to LAN with me instead of bringing his, but it runs Linux mostly and my mother pretty much keeps my XP notebook. I game fine on Vista 64, but I have run into issues with Q3A, runs better under XP still looking up solutions for that one, but BF1942 runs fine in Vista. Basically anything designed for Windows 2000 and up should work great in Vista.

Why not try running Vista x64 exclusively for about a month and see what you think, with 4GB RAM should compliment your P-6931FX nicely.

 

very true... have a look at the tweaks guide in my sig. for ultimate gaming performance

 

well the thing is my 6831fx came stock with 3gb ram... will this be enough for vista x64?

also what do I do after I set up raid 0? do i partition it into 3 parts one for vista x64, one for xp x86 and one for storage?

based on orev's guide on vista discs, I assume the oem disc that came with my laptop has vista x64 on it as well but will my license key which is for vista x86 work for the vista x64 that I will install?

 

To partition, install Windows XP, setting up the RAID 0 with Windows XP only using the space you want it to use (20-60GB or the 160GB), then when you install Vista it should detect everything and install it on the unpartitioned space or creating a small partition for the OS leaving some space for storage. I believe, but am not 100% sure that this should work.

If your gonna use Partition Magic and don't have the latest version, use Windows XP SP2 and don't install Vista or Service Pack 3 until after you have made your partitions and uninstalled Partition Magic. Partition Magic, Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 3 DO NOT LIKE EACH OTHER!

Depends, one thing I did when I set up a dual boot was decide that one of the 2 OS was going to be my storage aswell and I gave it a majority of the space, but you have to take into account how much space the programs for each are going to take up. First off, I liked the file structure more for Vista (user folders and stuff), so I used this as storage. On my old desktop when I still did most of my gaming in XP, I gave XP something along the lines of 160GB out of a 400GB HDD (XP itself also takes up a lot less space then Vista), this was fine for all the games and their saves. All my music and pictures where in the Vista partition and I had the folders linked to that. Now I would do less, but I would still give it between 20-60GB or 80GB (if your gonna be doing alot of gaming, nothing wrong with 160GB out of your 640GB).

As for the x86 key working with a x64 disc, that has been thrown up to question. Some have had no problems, some say Windows wants you to activate it with the company and the company won't activate it. They may have mentioned to the activation rep what they were doing, I suggest being a bit more selective about the info to give to your rep, like "Just doing a clean install". The less info the MS rep has, the friendlier and helpful they seem to be. 3GB RAM is fine for Vista x64, that's what I have on my C90s. If you can get 4GB for it, great and I highly recommend maxing it out, Vista x64 can take full advantage of it.