Vista x64vs x86 with 3gb ram

I have a dell inspiron 1525 with proccy t5750 and 3gb ram.
it came installed with vista x86 home premium.
i want to know whether i ll have any benefits using x64 version over x86 version?

 

No point with going with X64... its a waste of time as you wont see a performance boost due to 3gb of ram.

Just cause trouble with finding drivers, and moving your data back on

 

Nothing more to add to X2P advice only thing i can say is if you have specific needs for x64 bit OS then why not otherwise stick with x86 ..

 

I disagree. x64 runs smoother even on my 2gb machine. (It's not a night-and-day difference, but if you're into tuning your system...) x64 also has some security advantages over x86.

Some say x64 is more stable too, but honestly I've found both to be perfectly stable if you use stable drivers.

I recommend x64 to everyone who does not have any specific compatibility needs that requires x86.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, programs compiled for 64-bit generally run about 10% faster regardless of RAM. (This includes most of the OS as well as some third-party programs.) We are starting to see some programs actually compiled to take advantage of this, including Photoshop CS4.

Here's what someone at Adobe says:

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/04/photoshop_lr_64.html

 

have a look at my tests:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=271368
i did notice that 64 bit vista was slightly faster

 

I feel that the 64 bit version has a bit more polish to it than the 32 bit. However, if you are happy with what you have now, no need to change it.

 

If you have more ram like say 8GB "check my sig" then its worth it

 

I think your physics card is more overkill than your ram...

 

Let me guess you think its more overkill because the GPU can also handle Ageia physX which makes the card obsolete? What you fail to realise is that if the Ageia physX card is used then the GPU wont loose performance.

 

I think if you have a multi-core processor then Vista x64 will take advantage of those extra CPUs more often than 32bit can.

 

thanks for the help guys.
i got confused when i read this at another forums.
http://www.techenclave.com/921677-post6.html

and i read something like that at wikipedia too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit#32_vs_64_bit

in pros and cons suggestion

i am more of tech noob, so maybe some can guide me on this.

 

mani1128, the factual parts of the stuff you quoted are basically correct, and nothing I said really conflicts with any of that. The only part I disagree with is the implication that memory usage is the only reason to move to 64-bit. If you'll review my earlier post, I recommended 64-bit for reasons not related to memory usage.

In theory, 64-bit stuff does use slightly more memory -- not double, but slightly more, due to using larger pointers and maybe alignment padding as mentioned in the Wikipedia article. However, in practice, I have not noticed a difference in memory usage. Not only have I not used up all of my 2 gb, but I haven't ever seen my memory usage go over 1.5 gb (not counting memory used for caching). Of course, your memory usage will depend on what software you are running.

So I agree with the post you quoted insofar as that you should not switch to 64-bit for memory usage reasons. But you should still switch to 64-bit for other reasons which I mentioned earlier... basically CPU performance and better security.

I also agree about the hardware stuff. 64-bit is incompatible with some ancient and/or cheapo hardware. Do you care? Keep in mind that this will not include standardized things not needing drivers, such as USB flash or hard drives, keyboards, mice... it could be an issue for a printer or something. Do you have specific compatibility needs? If so, you can look up compatibility for your specific peripherals.

So... to simplify:

64-bit Windows:
- Generally a little faster overall
- Can support 8 gb or more (depending on edition) of RAM
- Better security
- Some say better stability (although I've found both 32- and 64-bit Vista to be very stable if you avoid bad drivers)
- Better forward-compatibility (may matter in a few years)

32-bit Windows:
- Better compatibility with old and/or cheapo hardware
- Compatible with really ancient programs
- Should use memory slightly more efficiently, i.e. uses slightly less memory to run the same stuff. (I haven't noticed a difference in practice, however.)

 

thanks for the help, swarmer. a very elaborative explanation indeed.
so i guess, i ll move to x64 as my inspiron wont have any compatibility probs.
Lets see how it goes.