Vista 64 bit questions???

Ok, I am considering putting 64 bit vista on my desktop so that I can use all 4 gigs of my memory. I tried to find some information but I just got confused. My biggest worry is I dont know if I have the 64 bit drivers. I am using 32 bit vista and all of these drivers are working fine but will they work in 64 bit. Are there any possible disadvantages of switching to 64 bit. I guess my biggest problem is compatibility with the drivers and stuff. Can someone please give me some more info and help with this. The desktop in my sig is the computer I am thinking of installing on.

Get a list of your hardware and then go to each manufactors website and see if they have 64bit Vista drivers availible.

Here's the link for the nvidia vista 64 drivers for your video card.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_158.18.html

And the drivers for your chipset (i think you're running 650i)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_650i_sli_winvista64_15.00.html

Also check for sound card, printer, etc. drivers. I hope this helps.

I don't mean to thread jack here, but acompdude... I'd HIGHLY recommend you get another PSU... I had the same PSU blow out on me...Don't be suprised if you come home one day to find your computer won't boot... thats because more than likely your caps in your PSU are the cheap Fuhjyuu ones and have blown. They are probably already buldging....If you value your computer, I'd get a new PSU. Here are some links about it:

1)Antec SP-400 Innards [Bad caps!]

2)PSU buyers guide and How-to guide

3)Popping a Cap in One's Antec

anyways...

Drivers shouldn't be too much of a hassle, as most hardware has 64-bit drivers, however, you will have to check for program compatibility. A lot of programs do not work right in Vista 64-bit. I'd recommend XP 64-bit honestly...And to answer your question- no 32bit drivers will not work in a 64bit OS.

I am looking in to getting a new PSU pretty soon. I just dont have any money right now. Anyway I guess those are the only two drivers that I really need. I dont have a sound card or anything like that so thats not a problem. I will try to install it tonight and let you guys know how it does as soon as I can.

I just noticed that all of my vista drivers say vista 32/64 bit so I dont have any problems now. That is so awsome. As said I will post back soon with more conclusive results.

Installing Vista buisness x64 right now on a MSI P6N-SLI . So far I cant get the raid drivers to install even though vista see's them and I have the raid0 setup in bios . Regular sata driver ok though . The saga contines .... still installing atm . Keep ya up dated . (I hope , lol ... as Iam typing on another rig )

stereo555 said:

Installing Vista buisness x64 right now on a MSI P6N-SLI . So far I cant get the raid drivers to install even though vista see's them and I have the raid0 setup in bios . Regular sata driver ok though . The saga contines .... still installing atm . Keep ya up dated . (I hope , lol ... as Iam typing on another rig )

Click to expand...

I had a problem with the raid driver too. I tried putting it on a flash drive and a floppy it still said it couldnt find the driver. I downloaded the driver from the MSI website and still it did not work. I finally just gave up and told it to install anyway. My drive was showing up the way that I partitioned it so I figured the raid was working. I am actually reinstalling vista 64 bit now though because on Sunday night I had all sorts of problems and I hope a fresh install from scratch will fix it.

Well .... I went back to XP x64 (but still no raid0 with the P6N SLI-FI ) .

Vista just plain sucked . For what ever reason , it was waaaaaay toooo slooooow (boot up , etc) even with 4gigs of mem . Not sure what the problem was on Vista's speed but I could not take it anymore .

So now Iam back with XP x64 and things are back to it speedy self . Again , the only thing that I could not get to run on this mobo is the raid0 . Drivers just will not take . Ive used raid0 for the last 6-7 years and have been very accustom to using it . There is a differance without .

Not sure who to blame on the driver issue , but since it's a Nvidia chipset ...then I'd say Nivida needs to do some more work on the 650i/raid drivers . What is strange , that Nividia is usually GREAT with x64 drivers ; but not this time. The chipset is fairly new , so lets hope they get things worked out in the near future.

Vista at least on the intel side had no issues with RAID. Didn't even need to install any drivers for it to install.

Well I seem to be having the same problem as stereo555. 64-bit Vista is extremely slow. I had 32 bit installed and it was fast but with 64 it just like cut the speed in half. I have 4 gigs of ram too. For some reason it rated my ram as 1.5 with the index rating thingy. I dont understand that. But the computer runs fine with 32 bit xp and vista. Anyone have any idea why it could be so slow in 64 bit?

Are the rest of your scores normal, and it's just your ram that's 1.5? Have you run Memtest for your ram? I really don't know what it could be that's making it run slower than 32bit.

Only guess is maybe a bad chip set driver thats killing the performance in 64-bit.

acompdude said:

Well I seem to be having the same problem as stereo555. 64-bit Vista is extremely slow. I had 32 bit installed and it was fast but with 64 it just like cut the speed in half. I have 4 gigs of ram too. For some reason it rated my ram as 1.5 with the index rating thingy. I dont understand that. But the computer runs fine with 32 bit xp and vista. Anyone have any idea why it could be so slow in 64 bit?

Click to expand...

On some motherboards, you have to enable memory remap in the BIOS. Check out this thread:


and in particular, this post:


I'm running Vista Business 64-bit and it's been great. I ran XP 64-bit for about 6 weeks before I installed Vista. Generally, they seemed to run at about the same speed. However, there is something interesting I've noted with Vista. I play Counter Strike all the time and while I'm waiting for a new round, I like to hit the Windows key to minimize CS and surf the net. With Windows XP (32 or 64), it always seemed like the operating system was having a mild heart attack switching from CS to the Windows desktop. I'm not sure if it was because of how XP changed video modes or how it handled the memory or what. It took a second in XP for it to pull itself together. In Vista, when I hit the Windows key, CS minimizes instantly. I go from CS to browser in less than a blink of the eye. There's no stuttering or flashing like XP. What's really interesting is I don't think Vista did this when I first started using it. I've read the Vista learns your behaviors and optimizes itself based on what you do. I could be wrong... Maybe Vista always switched quickly from CS to browser.

The only down side is Vista 64-bit requires signed drivers. When you boot up, you can hit F8 and disable that requirement. It's kind of a pain though.

I ran memtest for with no errors so I dont know why it is showing up so slow in vista 64. I never looked at it in 32 bit so I might reinstall 32 bit on another partition so I can see what the memory rating is in it. Any other ideas?

Edit: I know my ram is already slower than the normal of today but could that really give me a 1.5 in the rating?

Atomic Dawg said:

The only down side is Vista 64-bit requires signed drivers. When you boot up, you can hit F8 and disable that requirement. It's kind of a pain though.

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You can disable signed drivers with a command in Vista. Forgot what it is but it can be done since I know I run it. Even then I really some unsigned drivers do install. Just certain features don't seem to work with signed driver working.

I read that post about the memory remap and that sounds exactly like what my system is doing so as soon as I get home I will be checking that out. I will let you guys know what happens. Thanks for the help.

Ok guys get this. I just got home and looked in the BIOS and I could not find that option so that is out the window. Anyway I decided to take out 2 gigs of the memory and just leave 2x1 gig sticks in it...... and not it is working fine. My memory now has a 5.3 rating. So I guess it is either a chipset problem or a BIOS problem. I found on MSI forums where this is happening a lot so I didnt just get a bad one. Hopefully MSI will fix this.

Are you running the latest BIOS? I see one dated 4/4/07 on the MSI Global site. Here's a link:
I checked the MSI forums and you're definitely not alone! I bet it's a simple BIOS fix. MSI will probably have an update soon.

Warning - this will permanently disable the need to use signed drivers, IDK of a way to turn it back on, but I loathe this enforcement.

Start > Run > Type 'CMD'

Type the below (or copy/paste) in the dos prompt. Reboot. Done.

bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

Atomic Dawg said:

Are you running the latest BIOS? I see one dated 4/4/07 on the MSI Global site. Here's a link:

MSI P6N SLI 2.1 BIOS (MSI Global English Website)​

I checked the MSI forums and you're definitely not alone! I bet it's a simple BIOS fix. MSI will probably have an update soon.

Click to expand...

That is what I am thinking too. I believe with as many people that are having this problem that MSI is working to fix it. It am hoping that a new BIOS will come out soon that will fix it.
QUOTE=nikhsub1]Warning - this will permanently disable the need to use signed drivers, IDK of a way to turn it back on, but I loathe this enforcement.

Start > Run > Type 'CMD'

Type the below (or copy/paste) in the dos prompt. Reboot. Done.

bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS[/QUOTE]
I dont think that it is a driver issue but thanks for the info. My mobo has the signed drivers anyway so I dont think that is a problem.