32 bit 64 bit confusion

[mrbojangles13]

ok so i just got a new computer. has 8 gigs of ram. and of course i would like to be able to use all of them. i currently have 32 bit xp installed. i had another computer before which vista didnt work on. i just want to make sure that 64 bit vista will work on this new machine. here is the link to the computer i bought and all technical information about it.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=XW8200-XEON3200-2-R&cat=SYS

i am very ignorant as far as computers are concerned. i dont even know if this is a stupid qeustion or not. reguardless, thanks for your time and help

[tim]

Only way to find out is try it. You need Vista64 to take advantage of your RAM.

[mrbojangles13]

the only thing is finding the drivers. or will vista pick up all the drivers? this is a refurbished one and i have none of the disks

[Epix]

Yep, you should be fine with Vista 64. Although you may get better performance from Windows Server 2008 since it's a server PC.

[HSK]

I think by now, x64 driver for most things are quite well supported, what I would suggest is to make a note of the hardware in the machine, and check on the net for support and drivers, see if you can find them. and then installed Vista x64 and use any of the drivers afterwards.

[mrbojangles13]

where would be a good place to find the drivers?

[mrbojangles13]

windows server 2008? is it like another os? like vista home basic or home premium

[HSK]

where would be a good place to find the drivers?
google search the product/hardware or the manufactuer name, or go direct to manufacturer site and search for the hardware...and see if the driver is offered.

[mrbojangles13]

just making sure but,,, what if i cant find them on the website? sorry for the ignorance. and thanks

[HSK]

I'm pretty sure Vista x64 should cover the configuration of that machine, drivers you might want to look for are for the graphics card and integrated sound.

If you can't find them on their website? Well still try google, you may find something. But other than that the choice is really up to you. Personally I would just try it :)

[Trique Daddi]

Adobe Elements 7 is not 64 bit compatible leaving only the full version of CS4. Make sure you do some research and have an editing solution. I love my new 64 bit machine. It runs very smoothly but I am having to obtain CS4 at a great expense. Some will tell you Elements 7 will run and it will but none of the tools work ( I have it and tried it).

Best of luck!
Trique Daddi

[mrbojangles13]

so only cs4 will work? will i need a driver for my mobo?

[Bobster]

no PS7, CS1,2,3,4 will work, Elements 5,6,7 will work only CS4 is fully 64bit aware, CS3 will allow more RAM in 64bit but thats as far as it goes..

drivers?
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=424561&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=424560&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=2103

[Faolan]

I've had no trouble finding drivers for some obscure and old kit such as a Laserjet 4200, an old Agfa flatbed scanner for 64Bits... That system is decent but it can be tricky finding spares for it. We've got one at work and took about 4 weeks to source a new PSU. Drivers shouldn't be an issue. Ours is running XP. If you do install Vista I would advise using vLite to strip out unnecessary drivers and language packs, it makes the installation a lot lighter and quicker to install.

One thing I will mention it does put out a lot of heat and probably will upset your electricity bill.

If a program doesn't work under Vista 64 then all you do is try to run it in compatibility mode. The only applications I've not had running is 16Bit DOS applications but that's where VMWare comes in handy as Vista 64 no longers supports 16bit apps.

[Tsmith]

The only issue I've had so far with Vista X64 is some of the software vendors have been slow to release X64 support for their Photoshop plug-ins.

[Zepher]

Are you sure you have XP 32bit on that machine. the link doesn't state if it is XP 64 or 32.

Right click on My Computer and click on Properties and tell us what it says.

It will look like this,
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/pc/quad-server.jpg

[mrbojangles13]

ok on the pic you have on the left, under computer: it says my two processors and it then says 3 gigs of ram

[mrbojangles13]

o and the one on the right didnt pop up

[mrbojangles13]

im really hoping i made a stupid mistake and am wrong here lol

[Zepher]

The screen on the right is the Task Manager with the Performance Tab selected.

you need to put a 64bit OS on your machine to take advantage of the extra ram you have.

Here is an my XP screen with 4Gigs of memory (note it is only showing 3.25GB),
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/pc/q6600.jpg

[mrbojangles13]

well why is mine only reading 3?

[Zepher]

It will vary from 3GB to 3.5GB. It depends on what hardware is using the memory addresses.

[mrbojangles13]

i just read something about only sertain processors working with 64 bit... are mine fine?

[HankScorpio]

Yes