32 bit vs. 64 bit, age old argument w/o answer.

[Ironoak]

I've been reading alot of threads that discuss 32 bit and 64 bit pro's and con's. It seems to me ( I say it seems because their were no clear answers, unless I'm just really that slow) that there are no reasons not to go 64 bit. Is it true you need to "double your memory" if your going 64 (davesktr, are you listening? ). It looks to me like vista is clearly better in 64 bit. Is that accurate. I'm about to try and build my own system and I'd like to know the pros and cons. I know it's subjective, so I'll take it with a grain of salt. However, I'm not a gamer, so there's no reason for those references. I do however operate Photoshop CS. I know it's a resource hog, but I need it for work. I'd appreciate any rational reasoning for one system or the other, even if the replies are two sided ("on one hand....on the other hand.....)
Thanks for your time.
Shea

 

[Rik]

Well I have gotten myself an XP64 disk but I am researching drivers for all my hardware before i make a decision as to using it. I recon my approach is a good idea.

 

[Ironoak]

Which presents the next logical question I guess... Not all drivers will operate in both systems?

 

[SNGX1275]

There is an answer. Your thread title will get lots of views, but it is a bad question.

Its technical, and since you didn't bother to look I won't bother to explain in detail. But basically if you don't use more than 2 gigs of ram just stick in your 32 bit fairy land. If you do, then go to 64bit.

 

[Ironoak]

I am looking, so if you can point me in the right direction I'll even ask that this thread be closed. I'm not looking to create a long thread, I was just trying to get to guide or thread that could help guys like me make an (un)educated decision. The threads I did find had guys like you who are obviously repair guys or who have been amping up their own systems. They were able to jump around topics such as which os they thought worked better with which bit system. I literally started doing things to my own computer one month ago and didn't know what a boot disk was:dead: . I used suggestions that took me to SIW, Crucial and other such sites just to figure out what was in my computer. I apologize if the question is stupid, but I'm really just trying to get opinions from guys who have been doing this for awhile whether they thought the 32-bit os was better for running Photoshop CS than the 64 bit os in a Vista environment. In response to whether or not I have more than 2 gigs of ram, my original question did state I was going to try and build the system. I'm researching here and looking help, not necessarily blunt answers.
Thanks for your time.
Shea:blackeye:

 

[Daveskater]

Is it true you need to "double your memory" if your going 64 (davesktr, are you listening? ).

I am listening

You don't need to double your memory for 64 bit, it allows you to use more. 32 bit has a memory limit because of the amount of places in 32 bit binary code but 64 bit has more places so you can have up to 16GB of ram if you really wanted to.

Most programs should work ok on a 64 bit OS unless they use or install drivers, in which case you'll need a 64 bit version of the program.

Like Rik says, it is a good idea (As he has done so) to make sure that 64 bit versions of all the software you want are available before installing the OS.

 

[Ironoak]

Thanks very much. I think the important part was the amount of memory you can have. It would be great to be able to use that much memory when using PS-CS. My images are intensely huge, especially when making customized slideshows. Thanks (again) for your help daveskater, sngx and rik.

EDIT
Found this this morning while researching for 64 - bit system.
High-capacity RAM compatibility
➤ Make the most of systems running 64-bit processors. Photoshop CS2 can address
approximately 3.5 GB of RAM on a Power Macintosh G5 running Mac OS X, a
Windows XP 64-bit Edition system running an Intel® Xeon™ processor with EM64T, or
an AMD Athlon™ 64 or Opteron™ processor.
This was on Photoshop CS2 reference page.
Looks like the highest Photoshop users might as well go is 4gigs of Ram.