Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
So I am thinking about upgrading my OS to Vista 64-bit |
DVA3253
Captain, B767-300
Joined on June 19 2006
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
"Now this is what I am talking about" Pensacola, FL USA
218 legs, 552.8 hours
198 legs,
472.3 hours online 209 legs,
534.3 hours ACARS 8 legs,
25.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 30 2008 23:26 ET by Kevin Jones
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I am thinking about upgrading my OS to Vista 64-bit from the 32-bit. My comp can do it, but is it worth it? I only have 3 gigs of memory and the only way to get more memory is to update... what do you guys think?
Component Details Subscore Base score
Processor AMD Phenom(tm) 9500 Quad-Core Processor 5.9
Determined by lowest subscore
Overall 5.6 score
Memory (RAM) 3.00 GB 5.9
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 5.9
Gaming graphics 1791 MB Total available graphics memory 5.9
Primary hard disk 126GB Free (288GB Total) 5.6
Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium
System
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manufacturer HP-Pavilion
Model GX612AA-ABA m8330f
Total amount of system memory 3.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 4
64-bit capable Yes
Storage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total size of hard disk(s) 894 GB
Disk partition (C:) 126 GB Free (288 GB Total)
Disk partition (D:) 1 GB Free (10 GB Total)
Disk partition (E:) 252 GB Free (298 GB Total)
Media drive (F:) CD/DVD
Disk partition (K:) 150 GB Free (298 GB Total)
Media drive (L:) CD/DVDCD/DVD
Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Total available graphics memory 1791 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 512 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 1279 MB
Display adapter driver version 7.15.11.8048
Secondary monitor resolution 1280x1024
Primary monitor resolution 1280x1024
DirectX version DirectX 10
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DVA2787
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 02 2006
Century Club
Online Century Club
"If it aint broke don't fix it." Cornwall Jamaica
160 legs, 599.8 hours
149 legs,
557.1 hours online 120 legs,
447.6 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
December 30 2008 23:36 ET by James Hepburn
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Everything looks OK except that ur gonna use Vista. Ur better off with windows xp.
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DVA3253
Captain, B767-300
Joined on June 19 2006
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
"Now this is what I am talking about" Pensacola, FL USA
218 legs, 552.8 hours
198 legs,
472.3 hours online 209 legs,
534.3 hours ACARS 8 legs,
25.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 30 2008 23:57 ET by Kevin Jones
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So I can get "Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade w/SP1" for $65. Does anyone know if that will work if I am using Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit? Would installing it bring it to the 64-bit?
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DVA6255
Captain, MD-11
Joined on August 05 2008
Events Century Club
Quincentenary Club
Online Triple Century Club
"We have clearance, Clarence. " Bronx, NY USA
587 legs, 2,341.4 hours
332 legs,
1,027.2 hours online 578 legs,
2,316.3 hours ACARS 109 legs,
275.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 00:00 ET by Jamall Broderick
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We can can change Vista to XP!!
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DVA1603
Captain, B727-200
Joined on April 02 2004
Double Century Club
Albany, GA USA
266 legs, 399.1 hours
85 legs,
131.0 hours online 93 legs,
129.4 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 08:43 ET by Michael Wilson
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I do not think that you can upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit. That said, I also do not think that you are going to notice enough of a difference to make it worthwhile. You do not have 4GB of RAM, or more.
The sad thing is that there is so much misinformation out there that it can be difficult to make a choice, or even decide what is true when you are researching the subject. Everything that I have seen tells me that FSX is not properly optimized to take advantage of multi-core processors and excessive RAM. If true, that in itself negates any advantage that Vista 64-bit might offer you. I do not actually know whether it is or not, and I doubt anyone that you are going to ask does either. I will say that, based on my experience, you should keep your current setup as-is if it is working well for you.
You can stick 4GB of RAM in there if you want to. I know a lot of people claim that 32-bit Vista only uses 3GB, but I usually see this reported by people using 4 1GB DIMMs. My question then becomes, is it the operating system or is it their motherboard? I never get a satisfactory answer. I know that I have had machines running 4GB RAM in XP, Server 2003, and Vista Business 32-bit that were all reported as 4GB. The servers were the only ones that I could tell were taking advantage of it though.
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 11:57 ET by Kevin Williams
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I wouldn't switch unless you are getting out of memory (OOM) errors.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3253
Captain, B767-300
Joined on June 19 2006
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
"Now this is what I am talking about" Pensacola, FL USA
218 legs, 552.8 hours
198 legs,
472.3 hours online 209 legs,
534.3 hours ACARS 8 legs,
25.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 13:15 ET by Kevin Jones
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Well... here's the thing, on crucial.com I can get 4gb more of RAM for about $40. Inside my computer I have 4 slots, 1x1x512x512. I was thinking about taking those 512's out and replacing them with two 2gb. That would bring my total RAM to 6gb, I should be able to notice a difference then, wouldn't I? I'm thinking it would since I am doubling my total memory.
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 19:30 ET by Kevin Williams
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If you're going to use all 6 GB then yes 64 is the way to go. FYI you can't just upgrade to a 64bit version, you have to buy the whole version and do a fresh install.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA3253
Captain, B767-300
Joined on June 19 2006
Online Century Club
Double Century Club
"Now this is what I am talking about" Pensacola, FL USA
218 legs, 552.8 hours
198 legs,
472.3 hours online 209 legs,
534.3 hours ACARS 8 legs,
25.1 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 19:46 ET by Kevin Jones
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From Microsoft:
Custom installation (clean installation) of Windows Vista A custom installation or clean installation of Windows Vista does not preserve the currently installed personal files, settings, and programs. Windows Vista is installed without third-party programs. You can perform a custom installation of Windows Vista by using either an upgrade license or a full product license. However, if you own an upgrade license, you must start the installation in the current version of Windows. At the installation choice menu, select Custom to perform this action.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932616/en-us
When it says an upgrade license, does that mean I could use this product since I am a student?
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
Sorry for all the questions...
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DVA3680
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on November 01 2006
Stock Car Racing Club
Century Club
Berthoud, CO
114 legs, 232.4 hours
97 legs,
212.8 hours online 106 legs,
215.1 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.7 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 20:07 ET by Kevin Williams
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$60 for MS Office Ultimate, dang that's a nice discount!
I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you use a upgrade license if you're a student? Yep. An upgrade liscence is if you have a previous version of the product. It won't work as a stand alone, you have to have the previous version installed before running the setup on the new version.
Kevin WilliamsFirst Officer, B767-300
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DVA4788
Chief Pilot, L-1011-100
OLP
Joined on August 02 2007
50 State Club
Everett Century Club
Online Double Century Club
Quatercentenary Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
"Fly it like a Samsonite Gorilla!!" Wichita, KS
470 legs, 881.0 hours
220 legs,
398.1 hours online 458 legs,
856.5 hours ACARS 2 legs,
5.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 20:52 ET by Jon Michael Prenovost
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I've ran my notebook on Vista Home Premium 64bit Edition, with a dual core AMD 64 & 4Gb of RAM. After spending sometime with it I determined that the 64bit edition was knocking down my frame rates on average from 3 to 5 frames per second. FS9 & FSX (for the moment) are both 32bit application, I believe the frame rate knock came from the fact the simulation was having to be ran through WOW64, or "Windows on Windows 64", which is what the 64bit edition uses to emulate a 32bit environment for all 32bit applications. The emulation/translation from 64bit to 32bit to 64bit costs performance. FSX's impact upon performance was worse. My only recomendation is that if your going to run 64bit crank up the RAM as high as you can go...
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DVA1603
Captain, B727-200
Joined on April 02 2004
Double Century Club
Albany, GA USA
266 legs, 399.1 hours
85 legs,
131.0 hours online 93 legs,
129.4 hours ACARS 2 legs,
3.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
December 31 2008 23:04 ET by Michael Wilson
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Going to 6GB RAM so that you can "effectively" acquire and use a 64-bit version of Windows and then run FS9 or FSX on it is a little excessive. It is kind of like paying more for a quad-core processor instead of getting a faster dual-core. The shelves are not being overrun by software that can properly handle dual-cores, much less 4. If you need processing power, buy a fast dual. If you want to run Vista and play games, use the 32-bit version, buy a fast dual-core processor, stick 4GB RAM in it, get a good video card (which can be obtained cheap these days) and call it a day. If 4GB RAM is enough for my database servers at the office (which can and do actually use that 4GB), it is enough for FS9 and FSX.
The most modern and expensive hardware might look good when you type a spec list, or in a benchmark, but you have wasted your money if it is sitting there idle while you are still getting stutters in FSX. I have run FS9 on more than a few machines with 4GB RAM and it was not even coming close to making use of it. I run it very comfortably on a laptop with 2GB now. I doubt that FSX has doubled FS9's memory usage. Hardly anyone could tell the difference between 1GB and 2GB on XP without using some high-end audio/visual or engineering software, unless I told them the difference and let placebo kick in. The difference between 512mb and 1GB is very apparent though, just as the difference between integrated video and a video card is. The same really applies to Vista and 2GB or 4GB.
When FS and everything else you use moves to 64-bit, worry about making the move then. There will be a whole new list of hardware to choose from when that happens, and it will all probably be cheaper that its current equivalent at that time. If you just want better FS performance, moving to 64-bit and throwing more GB's of RAM (when you already have more than 2GB) at it is not going to get you where you want to be. Look into tidying up your Vista install, and/or reinstalling it. Consider a faster processor, but ignore the quad-core hype. How about this, are your 2 1GB DIMMs and your 2 512mb DIMMs matched? If not, you would probably do better by just buying 2 2GB DIMMs with specs that are optimal for your processor and motherboard. A computer will run "fine" with mismatched DIMMs, but the memory is only going to be as fast as the slowest stick. Back in the P4 days (I say that like it was eons ago), you could notice a tremendous difference by moving from PC2700 to PC3200, without increasing the amount of memory.
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DVA3432
First Officer, B777-200
Joined on August 07 2006
Century Club
"Mile High Blackout" Aurora, CO USA
152 legs, 525.6 hours
43 legs,
139.8 hours online 101 legs,
431.8 hours ACARS 3 legs,
5.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
January 01 2009 03:45 ET by Mike Peterson
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Looks ok to me as most people above said. If you run into problems running FS you can always have it set to run in XP compatibility mode (that's what I do) and it will run just fine.
Mike PetersonFirst Officer, B777-200
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