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Home ? Tech Help ? 32bit-64bit-XP-7--Aarrrghhhhh

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17/09/2010 07:25:16

ukBertyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
ukBerty
Posts: 975 		Kaynine,

I use Windows 7 32 bit on my PC and run Muvizu and all my other software no problem.

However, I work wth all this IT stuff and just for the record here's what I know.....

1) You do not need to run 64 bit Windows if you have 64 bit architecture. I have installed many 64 bit machines with 32 bit versions of the OS. This is maninly to cater for older applications which customers needed to run and I didn't want to chance it.

2) The big advantage of a 64 bit OS is accessible memory. A 32 bit OS can effectively address around 3GB of RAM, whilst 64 bit can address Terabytes (can't remember how many - basically enough for you not to worry about). This is why I may upgrade my machine to 64 bit Windows 7 in the near future - I currently have a 64 bit machine running 32 bit Windows 7. When you have Muvizu, After Effects and Studio all running along together with your Outlook etc the machine really struggles with 3GB RAM. I would be stuffing my existing machine with 12GB RAM and upgrading to 64 bit Windows 7 so I can use it all.

3) I have had no problems with installing 32 bit applications for clients on 64 bit operating systems in the last couple of years. The only issue I have had was having environments with mixed 32 and 64 bit print drivers - but as you only have 1 PC this will not be an issue.

4) The only real compatability issues are with drivers for peripherals. You need 64 bit drivers for all your printers and bits and bobs if you are running a 64 bit OS. You may find that Windows 7 comes with drivers for most things, but you should check. If you run windows 7 32 bit on 64 bit architecture you will use the 32 bit drivers of course.

So my advice is go for 64 bit OS and architecture unless you have so many old peripherals that this would be too costly.

Berty
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17/09/2010 08:45:06

toonaramaMuvizu mogulExperimental user
toonarama
Posts: 661 		ukBerty
Thanks for this detailed response. I am in a similar position to kaynine and have been having the same concerns.

I am planning on buying a new PC (eventually) but would keep the old one for general use and that one would be connected to the peripherals so hopefully that would prevent that being an issue.

many thanks

Mick
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17/09/2010 08:52:22

ukBertyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
ukBerty
Posts: 975 		Toonrama,

The only issue I can think of is if you are trying to use shared peripherals (sucha as a printer) on a 32 bit windows OS from a PC with a 64 bit OS. I have seen this cause problems as you have 64 bit drivers printing through a 32 bit machine with 32 bit drivers on.

The way round this is to use networked printers and print direct from each PC.

Berty
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17/09/2010 08:58:24

toonaramaMuvizu mogulExperimental user
toonarama
Posts: 661 		Berty

Thanks again. To be honest I was looking at using the new PC as a dedicated video and animation (for me) and games (for my son) machine so am not really bothered about hooking it up to the printer, scanner etc.

Thanks

Mick
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17/09/2010 09:11:44

ukBertyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
ukBerty
Posts: 975 		While I'm rabbitting on....

I have two logical drives in my machine - C: and D:

I generally save my AVI files to D:, but if I output in high res uncompressed then this drive is not fast enough and reviewing it is jumpy.

My C: drive is mirrored - i.e. two drives of the same cpacity. I put all my high res output on this now as the read times are much faster and therefore not jumpy.

So if I was specifying a PC for animation it would have mirrored drives on your data partition.

Berty
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17/09/2010 09:57:26

glasgowjim
glasgowjim
Posts: 698 		For Muvizu the OS that would give the most functionality would probably be 64-Bit Windows 7 - the Devs will be creating a 64-bit version of the software during the next few releases.

One way to get around these issues is to have a system that has two hard drives, then you can install good ol'-fashioned 32-bit XP on one the other hard drive.
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17/09/2010 10:41:52

glasgowjim
glasgowjim
Posts: 698 		Kaynine wrote:

Warning bells just went off ... does this mean that in the near future, Muvizu will ONLY run on 64 bit machines? Surely it wouldn't be practical nor practicable for the developers to continue to develop and release parallel versions; one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit?


Don't worry - there are no intentions to go 64-Bit only - that would be developmental suicide .

Kaynine wrote:

Does that mean you could have a 64 bit machine running 64 bit 'Windows 7' with it installed on one hard drive, and also run the same machine with 32 bit 'Windows XP' with it installed on the other hard drive? I always thought it was verboten to have two Windows systems installed on the same machine.

We're definitely into territory now where my pensioner's brain is longing for the return of the quill and parchment.


It's fine - if you had the right hardware and a sufficient amount of hard drives you could have 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP, Vista, 7, Linux and Max OSX installed on the one PC.

I always prefer to have two operating systems installed anyway - that way if one of the Windows installs dies you can grab your important files by loading up the other version.
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17/09/2010 11:44:14

NeilExperimental userMuvizu staff
Neil
Posts: 396 		I'd highly recommend the 64-bit version of Windows7, especially because it can use extra RAM.

Regarding hardware, all modern CPUs will be 64-bit architecture, but will work with a 32-bit OS. My aging Intel Core 2 Duo is 64-bit and I've had it nearly 4 years. It's been through various OSes including XP, Win7 beta 32-bit and now Win7 64-bit.

As for software, most 32-bit applications should run perfectly well on a 64-bit OS. For example, Muvizu is a 32-bit application but it runs fine on 64-bit Windows 7. The biggest problem you're likely to have is drivers for old hardware. I had trouble with an old TV capture card (which I got working eventually) and an absolutely ancient scanner (which I didn't).

If you go down the route of building your own (or buying a pre-built PC without an OS installed), then the retail version of Windows 7 actually comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, on different discs. So you could try 64-bit first and if you have problems, install the 32-bit version instead.

What software are you worried about being compatible? If you give us a list, some of us might have experience with it and we can confirm if it works or not.
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17/09/2010 12:31:09

IanSExperimental userMuvizu staff
IanS
Posts: 139 		Yeah I'd definitely recommend going for a 64 bit machine and running Windows 7 (64 bit). The internals of Windows 7 are much improved compared to XP and you're bound to have your new machine for a number of years so you'll be thankful in the future for any software/hardware that makes use of it.
You can always run older stuff in compatibility mode, hopefully quite successfully!
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17/09/2010 13:47:35

Frendor
Frendor
Posts: 27 		Hi Kaynine,

18-24 months ago I would of said no to x64 purely because of the compatibility issues, but since the release of Windows 7 x64 software/hardware manufactures have really started to pull their fingers out and support the x64 architecture, so i'd say go for it!

All x64 operating systems come with a subsystem known as WoW64, basically Wow64 allows 32 bit programmes to run in the 64 bit environment, in simple terms its an emulator. Installed 32 bit programmes end up in a folder called Programme Files (x86), 64 bit end up in a folder called Programme Files. So there's little to worry about when installing/using 32 bit application, although its worth pointing out that the same rules apply to 32 bit applications as they would in a 32 bit environment. I.e. memory limitations.

16 bit (ouch!) very old (early 1990's) programmes will not run on a system with a 64 bit operating system, 64 bit processor yes, operating system no! 16 bit runs fine on a 32 bit OS.

Know here comes the real shocker! In theory W7 x64 can run with multiple amounts of Terabytes, in practice it's a very different story. Not only do you have to take into account your Processor/Motherboards chip set and Bios setting, but the actual OS version too! You might be very surprised, or even shocked, to learn that 'Windows 7 Home Basic 64' only supports 8GB of memory... Its true. 'Windows 7 Home Premium 64' supports a Max of 16GB. Windows 7 Professional /Enterprise /Ultimate a Max of 192GB. And from there the bigger and more expensive versions support up to 2 TB. Whatever you do don't get 'Windows 7 Starter' it only supports 2GB! In theory each one of these OS's should be able to operate with more RAM, but you can thank MS for the limitations on each version, How else are they going to get you to pay more money for the use of more memory?

Don't you just love MS? Remember the scam with Dx10 and XP? They only released DX 10 for vista to try and get people to move to that OS!

Anyway back to topic. So Kaynine. if you're going to go for x64 then go for it, don't do it half-heartedly. A 32 bit system with 4 GB of RAM is actually faster then a 64 bit OS running 32 bit applications with the same amount of RAM. I know when I take the plunge to 64 (which wont be too long going off what Jim as just announced) then it will be with at least Windows 7 Home Premium, more then likely Professional with 12 + GB's.

Frendor.
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.