Upgrade of PC

[Ovi]

Thats why I asked him if he planned on using Vista or x64. Tbh I should have said Vista 64bit as there will be a 32bit version too.

/Ankh

The main Vista releases are 32-bit still

You asked about 64-bit OS though in reference to Dual Core, but 64-bit OS makes little difference with a Dual Core CPU. Dual Core CPUs benefit 32-bit as much as 64-bit.

[<ankh>]

The main Vista releases are 32-bit still

You asked about 64-bit OS though in reference to Dual Core, but 64-bit OS makes little difference with a Dual Core CPU. Dual Core CPUs benefit 32-bit as much as 64-bit.

There are just as many 64 bit vista versions as 32, I know as I've got 6 different vista myself on one cd. You get more benefit from a dual core cpu when you run a 64bit OS than you get from a 32bit. Atm there arent many games/programs that takes advantage of 64bit - but next major Source upgrade will get 64 bit support (source as in hl2 engine) and Crysis is another game with both 64bit and dx10 support. Photoshop has also speed increase with the dual core due to its 64bit support. (speaking of PS, the latest photoshop has GPU support too for the filters).

/Ankh

[Ovi]

Dual Core needs multi-thread support, not 64-bit support to be beneficial though.

[Gandelf]

Will games such as DAoC, WoW, etc. run on Vista?

[<ankh>]

Dual Core needs multi-thread support, not 64-bit support to be beneficial though.

Yes, but the dual core cpu's are 64bit - so to take full use of them you need a 64bit system.

Edit: and also, the 64bit systems are the ones that has multi-thread support atm.

/Ankh

[Ovi]

Yes, but the dual core cpu's are 64bit - so to take full use of them you need a 64bit system.

Edit: and also, the 64bit systems are the ones that has multi-thread support atm.

/Ankh

No, the First Intel ones were 32-bit, albeit with some pretence at being 64-bit. We certainly avoided the first Intel processors due to the fact they wouldn't run out 64-bit OSes and applications in full 64-bit.

As I said further up, NT4 had multi-thread support. At the moment it's the applications which struggle with Multi-thread support NOT the OS.

[<ankh>]

Yes, the FIRST intel ones. But as he is to buy a new system I doubt he plan on bying one of the first models.

NT had multithread support - but no 64bit. Also, it does require the games to support it too or else its a waste.

/Ankh

[Gandelf]

Assuming that I do go down the road of a 64-bit, dual-core upgrade, will I still be able to run all my existing software, including Windows XP Home edition? Then in say another 6 months or so, if I upgrade to a 64-bit, multi-thread OS (e.g. one of the Vista OSs), will all of my existing 32-bit software still work on the new OS?

[<ankh>]

Nope, they wont. But most programs will. But if you do buy a new pc you might aswell go for a 64bit/dualcore upgrade to prepare for later games imo. You can always run dual OS's incase you wan't to be 100% sure you can use everything. Atm Vista is a waste of time - there are way too few drivers with it and loads of people have problems due to this. But if you are to get vista, you should go for the 64bit version imo as 32bit will sooner or later be out of date. If you plan on getting gf8800 or newer cards you should definitly go for vista as there are no other OS's that support dx10.

Edit: I should mention that Im running several OS's and have only had problems with 3-4 32bit programs in x64 so far. Not many concidering how many programs/games I use - but still enough to piss me off. I've personally had no problems with Vista's drivers so far, but ive got lots of friends who's motherboards, gfx cards etc etc arent supported by it.

/Ankh

[Gandelf]

Thanks Ankh. I've heard also that there are certain aspects of Vista that are more retrograde in their use than XP and that certain features are annoying. The transparent panels for example, make it difficult for the user to tell which panel is in the foreground etc, or so I read.