Vista....

[Disturbedguy]

I know there are plenty of vista threads already but I wanted to feel popular

Anyway, to the point.

I have a copy of Vista Ultimate which as I have mentioned in other threads I got from Microsoft for attending one of their events.

Anyway, the packaging for the disc says 32-bit but it also says it supports x64, what does this mean?

Does this mean that if I paid a little extra I could upgrade to the 64 bit version?

Ok here comes the rest.

I remember when Vista was first released that there were quite a few problems with it and drivers for hardware, it is my understanding that these problems are pretty much none existent now. However I have still seen threads around stating that there are no drivers available for Creative sound cards that work within Vista, or at least not for cards that aren't brand new.

Is this the case, also can anyone for see any problems with me running vista on the hardware in "My System"?

Ok last question..I promise..I like to partition my hard drives, how much space would people say is enough for vista and its updates etc?

Thanks in advance

[directhex]

your "my system" doesn't reveal sound card info

[Agent]

There are drivers out for most of the Creative sound cards, but the quality of a lot of them is very poor.
Then you have to remember that Creative purposefully locked out a fair number of them, and some have only just been added back (literally days ago).
It's worth while checking the Creative forums out - even with the drivers released this week there is still serious issues on some systems.

A lot of issues have been resolved with them, don't get me wrong, but there are plenty of annoying bugs wtill with them (Even on my audigy 2)

[Paul Adams]

Anyway, the packaging for the disc says 32-bit but it also says it supports x64, what does this mean?

That you have the 32-bit version and it can be installed on x86 or x64-based systems.
As opposed to the 64-bit version which can only be installed on x64-based systems.

I have still seen threads around stating that there are no drivers available for Creative sound cards that work within Vista, or at least not for cards that aren't brand new.

My wife's machine is running Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 and she has a Creative X-Fi card, plays quite a few games and has not had any problems.
If in doubt, check the manufacturer's website for the hardware you have (in some cases they are revision-specific so watch for that).

Ok last question..I promise..I like to partition my hard drives, how much space would people say is enough for vista and its updates etc?

I tend to put aside the first 100GB as a partition for the OS, applications that want to default to the Program Files folders and the pagefile.
I installed my (64-bit) Vista Ultimate on 6th March and the partition is ~50% full - the Windows folder being just under 20GB and the Program Files (x86) folder being just over 15GB of that space.

Bear in mind to keep room for shadow copies - "previous versions" tab of file properties so you can roll back individual files to points in time if needed.
Vista uses more disk space because it a lot more transactional than previous versions, in a bid to avoid more "unbootable OS" scenarios and provide recovery options other than full restore or clean install.

[crazyfool]

also with the sound card thing bear in mind vista doesn't really support 5.1 unless you have a new sound card as most of the newer ones have a workaround in the drivers for this... my 5.1 setup in vista is only 2.1

[Disturbedguy]

Cheers for all that info Paul, really helps.

Should of mentioned, the card is an X-Fi Audigy thing. I'll check the forums as soon as I discover if the card is damaged or not after a little fiasco.

[directhex]

x-fi and audigy are completely different chips, drivers, etc

[Stringent]

Creative support is shocking for Vista. They tried to blame it all on MS for changing the sound model etc. It wasn't until recently that proper drivers appeared out of beta. Its all a cahoot to get you to buy their new stuff.

[Disturbedguy]

Tbh Hex, i cant remember what card I have, I will have to check properly on the manual tomorrow or later mate.

[DDY]

There are some X-Fi cards which don't use the "X-Fi" EMU20K1 chip, most notably the X-Fi Xtreme Audio which shares the same CA0106 chip as the Audigy SE and Live! 24.

[Agent]

There are some X-Fi cards which don't use the "X-Fi" EMU20K1 chip, most notably the X-Fi Xtreme Audio which shares the same CA0106 chip as the Audigy SE and Live! 24.

Yup, Creative marketing at its best

[Disturbedguy]

Another question..

As can be seen in "My System" I am running 4Gb ram.

I was wondeirng would it be better for to upgrade to a 64Bit version of Vista Ultimate and is this possible once the 32bit version is installed?

Thanks

[Agent]

You can not go from the 32bit version of Vista to the 64bit without a OS reinstall, so yes, I'd go with 64bit from the start

[Zak33]

Yup, Creative marketing at its best

that's why it's creative

[Disturbedguy]

Before I bite the bullet so to speak.

I know 32bit OS's don't support 4Gb of RAM where as 64bit OS's do.

Now the thing is, am not willing to spend the money on an OS I may not even like, I was wondering, would people say there is any point in my going over to Vista while I only have the 32 bit version or should I wait until I can be bothered or afford the 64 bit version?

[kalniel]

Is there something you can't do now with your current OS?