Very disappointed with Vista's performance especially gaming!

[GeekBoy]

False, in that the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit is nothing like
the 16-bit to 32-bit.


In the Win95 / NT 3.x era, new processors such as the Pentium Pro and
(to a lesser extent) the Pentium II were heavily optimised for 32-bit
code, whereas older processors were not. So there was a large YMMV
element in 16-bit vs. 32-bit code performance.

In that era, the move to 32-bit came after the processor hardware had
been in place throughout the 386, 486 and Pentium generations. It
took ages for OS and software to catch up, and the new 32-bit code
world was vastly different in ways beyond addresing range - think
pre-emptive multitasking, hypervisor control over application code,
virtual memory paging, address relocation, etc.


In this era of early 64-bit computing, we do have completely new
64-bit processors, but they have remained niche products. What you
currently refer to as "64-bit" processors are merely variations of
32-bit processors with 64-bit addressability added on.

So aside from the ability to address larger scopes, such as > 4G RAM,
there really isn'yt much inherent value in moving to 64-bit computing.
Much of what value there is, has been compatibility-shedding security
enhancements such as PatchGuard, mandatory driver signing, etc.


The downsides of 64-bit are a far smaller subset of compatible drivers
and utilities. Other applications generally don't need to care
whether they are on a 32-bit or "64-bit" platform, though 64-bit users
would like them to make use of 64-bit addressability.

In particular, consider your WinPE 2.0 maintenance OS:
- WinPE 2.0 64-bit will not access 32-bit Vista, and vice versa
- so you have to use 64-bit WinPE 2.0
- 64-bit WinPE 2.0 will not run 64-bit programs
- so you have to use 64-bit av, data recovery, diagnostic etc. tools

It's hard enough to find maintenance tools that will work from WinPE,
without them having to be 64-bit as well.


In particular, the assertion that "he is going to either go back to 32
bit or b(u)y another computer with a 32 bit CPU" is totally absurd.
All current CPUs are likely to have 64-bit support, and that means all
current (new) PCs are running Vista32 on "64-bit" CPUs.

Well then you explain why EVERYONE has problem with 32 bit software slowing
down on 64 bit CPU and OS.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Well then you explain why EVERYONE has problem with 32 bit software slowing
down on 64 bit CPU and OS.

Does "everyone" have that problem?

Or just folks who have to use version 1.00 64-bit drivers that are
optimized poorly in comparison with version 3.2738 32-bit drivers?

I know folks keep saying "drivers, drivers, drivers" with Vista 64,
but the fact is that virtually all performance-relevant hardware (HD
controllers, display chipset, etc.) is going to depend hugely on
device drivers for performance.

When that layer is not the same (as is inevitably the case, given that
you can't use the same drivers on both platforms) then it's really
hard to draw conclusions based on the applications.

There are two ways around this:

1) Use a test benchmark that isn't affected by drivers

2) Compare 32-bit apps on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms

If you do (2), and the 64-bit platform is slower, then you're either
looking at inefficiencies of running 32-bit code on a 64-bit OS (as
you assert) or you're looking at driver issues (as I suggest).

You can then test the 64-bit version of the app on the 64-bit OS and
compare that with the 32-bit app on the 32-bit OS. Again, if the
64-bit app is slower, it suggests either drivers (as I suggest) or
that the app vendor has written a slower 64-bit version of the app
than their 32-bit version (unlikely, but possible due to the same
reasons that "young" 64-bit drivers may be slower than mature 32-bit
drivers). One may then ask; why bother with 64-bit right now?

If the 64-bit app is way faster than the 32-bit app on either
platform, then it's either a better-implimented app, or there really
is a drastic benefit to 64-bit computing and running 32-bit apps on a
64-bit app is a waste of 64-bit potential.

Whichever way you slice it, you always have at least 2 variables
meshed together - and that makes comparisons difficult to interpret.

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