DataCabbitKSW Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Kazuyette, You are correct. In Windows _SERVER_ 32bit you can turn on PAE and then certain products (like SQL server) will be able to run with PAE also enabled to take advantage of more RAM using a different thread for different segments of RAM. It is a _massive_ work-around, but it somewhat works. There are caveats, and issues, but it usually works. However, software has to be written with PAE in mind to do this. In comes x64 and we no longer have the smaller memory table issues since the address space is now freed up to be _MUCH_ larger. Back to the topic: Right now? Vista gets a tiny hit in performance, but handles games much better than XP. Many games have 64bit variants (Source Engine, Crytech engine, etc) so that they can run native 64bit code rather than relying on the thunking mechanisms to raise 32bit to 64bit. If you slim down the stuff running in the background you will generally get equivalent raw performance, and a lot more compatability in Vista. With Windows 7, this will only increase. They are seperating out all the legacy DirectX. DirectX 10 and 11 are installed by default. They have a DirectX10 mode to emulate DirectX 9, but for calls that run prior, you will have to install a seperate directX package install. This code cleanup gives a massive performance boost to games running DirectX10 or higher calls. Thusly, you will see higher performance. Drivers are still being tuned by manufacturers, so aren't fully stable yet, but most people are getting really good performance from their games under Windows7. So for now: Old games use Windows XP, it is still okay and uses little resources New Games: Use Vista, only way to get DirectX 10 and many other features, as well as take advantage of more RAM For future: Just use Windows 7. Less resource usage than Vista, and even has a Windows XP virtualization mode if your hardware (Core processors and up usually) can support it. Speed, compatability, new techs. That pretty much sums it up. For more in-depth, nitty-gritty talk about it, try the DirectX team's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/directx/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martog Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Kazuyette, You are correct. In Windows _SERVER_ 32bit you can turn on PAE and then certain products (like SQL server) will be able to run with PAE also enabled to take advantage of more RAM using a different thread for different segments of RAM. It is a _massive_ work-around, but it somewhat works. There are caveats, and issues, but it usually works. However, software has to be written with PAE in mind to do this.In comes x64 and we no longer have the smaller memory table issues since the address space is now freed up to be _MUCH_ larger. The other main caveat with PAE is the fact yes the OS can see and use more than 4GB of RAM and the apps have to be written for PAE in mind, but you are still limited to an application only being able to address 4GB of RAM at most. If one is going for an OS that is in release state right now, I'd say Vista, 64bit for the OP because of the RAM. Though I use 64bit on a system with 2GB of ram (an original Athlon 64 X2 4200+) and it runs like a champ. I'll be moving to Win7 soon as I test the RTM bits when Technet gets them to make sure compatbility for final code, looking great though so far on my desktop, laptop and netbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DataCabbitKSW Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Kazuyette, You are correct. In Windows _SERVER_ 32bit you can turn on PAE and then certain products (like SQL server) will be able to run with PAE also enabled to take advantage of more RAM using a different thread for different segments of RAM. It is a _massive_ work-around, but it somewhat works. There are caveats, and issues, but it usually works. However, software has to be written with PAE in mind to do this. In comes x64 and we no longer have the smaller memory table issues since the address space is now freed up to be _MUCH_ larger. Back to the topic: Right now? Vista gets a tiny hit in performance, but handles games much better than XP. Many games have 64bit variants (Source Engine, Crytech engine, etc) so that they can run native 64bit code rather than relying on the thunking mechanisms to raise 32bit to 64bit. If you slim down the stuff running in the background you will generally get equivalent raw performance, and a lot more compatability in Vista. With Windows 7, this will only increase. They are seperating out all the legacy DirectX. DirectX 10 and 11 are installed by default. They have a DirectX10 mode to emulate DirectX 9, but for calls that run prior, you will have to install a seperate directX package install. This code cleanup gives a massive performance boost to games running DirectX10 or higher calls. Thusly, you will see higher performance. Drivers are still being tuned by manufacturers, so aren't fully stable yet, but most people are getting really good performance from their games under Windows7. So for now: Old games use Windows XP, it is still okay and uses little resources New Games: Use Vista, only way to get DirectX 10 and many other features, as well as take advantage of more RAM For future: Just use Windows 7. Less resource usage than Vista, and even has a Windows XP virtualization mode if your hardware (Core processors and up usually) can support it. Speed, compatability, new techs. That pretty much sums it up. For more in-depth, nitty-gritty talk about it, try the DirectX team's blog: http://<< spam >>/mudgpw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApuBo Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 If you can Dual boot :) or even 4 boot. i Got Vista 64 and 7 64 both run smooth (better than 32 ones gaming wise) tho my Xp64 is out too much crashes on my build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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