Anybody experience with 64 bit and Sage?

[JParedis]

Hi,

I'm moving to VISTA (don't ask me why ) and have to select either the 32 or 64-bit version. I'm running a Hauppage PVR-150 and have seen they have a 64-bit driver.

Has anybody experience in running Sage and/or Hauppauge on a 64-bit OS?

In case anybody is wondering, my only motivation to considering the 64-bit is to prevent having to switch from 32 to 64-bit in future (= pay again), something that will need to happen anyway once more 64-bit becomes available.

I'm also searching if Bill (Gates) has a special deal for such an upgrade. If not too expensive I would hold the 64-bit of for time being.

Thanks for any feedback,

Jan

[scoful]

When I upgrade my system about a year ago I initially tried to set it up with XP64. I never got to even try installing Sage, because I couldn't get the Hauppauge drivers to work. Hauppauge insisted they would work, but I tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times - even reinstalled XP.
However; it's my understanding that at least some drivers exist in Vista for the Hauppauge products. I would imagine those WOULD work.

[sjgore]

and have to select either the 32 or 64-bit version

The only reason to go with the 64-bit version of Vista is if you plan on having large amounts of RAM (4GB or more, I think it is).

By the time 64-bit Windows is anywhere near mainstream, Windows Vienna (the successor to Vista, previously known as Blackcomb) will have been released, and you might as well get the 64-bit version of that.

In the meantime, it's just not worth the headaches of trying to run 64-bit Vista.

With the exception of the difficulties I'm having try to get my MVP to connect, SageTV 6.1.3 works fine with Vista 32-Bit.

Just my personal opinion, anybody feel free to disagree!

Steve.

[ToxMox]

I would tend to agree that if using less the 4GB of RAM to use 32bit to avoid any headaches. I plan on running Vista 64 because my server is running 4GB and maybe 8GB next year so I'm sure I'll have some info to add to this thread in the coming weeks as I play around.

[JParedis]

Thanks for that quick feedback - so it will be 32-bit (only intend to have 3Giga RAM).

Will be soon a busy weekend re-installing the PC

Jan

[sjgore]

Will be soon a busy weekend re-installing the PC

I'd highly recommend dual-booting Vista with XP SP2 for the next few months. Vista software and drivers are still in their infancy and, in the case of most hardware manufacturers, are not feature-complete or particularly stable yet.

If you choose a partition other than your C drive (assuming that this is the drive that you have got XP SP2 installed on), the Vista setup DVD will automatically create a boot menu for you.

Steve.

[Thomas Wischgol]

Originally Posted by sjgore

The only reason to go with the 64-bit version of Vista is if you plan on having large amounts of RAM (4GB or more, I think it is).

There may be another reason: tests indicate that the 64-bit version of XP is faster compared to its 32-bit counterpart when it comes to file transfers. This is something SageTV probably would benefit from considering the large size of the mpeg files. Nevertheless, the scarcity of 64-bit drivers (at least for XP) makes me still use the 32-bit version.

Thomas

[ag3mo]

I'm currently running Vista Ultimate 64bit edition with SageTV without any issues. My TV tuner is an ATI HDTV Wonder which Vista automatically installed drivers for.

[AngelofDeth]

I would agree, don't go 64-bit unless you have more than 3GB of RAM... But, if you are buying the OEM version, I found the so called "32-bit" key, allowed me to install the 64-bit version, I didn't try to activate it, but I would imagine it would. Also, in my very (very) limited testing, I actually found the 64-bit version slower. (comparing 64-bit/32-bit WMencoder on each edition of Vista)

[AngelofDeth]

Originally Posted by Thomas Wischgol

There may be another reason: tests indicate that the 64-bit version of XP is faster compared to its 32-bit counterpart when it comes to file transfers. This is something SageTV probably would benefit from considering the large size of the mpeg files. Nevertheless, the scarcity of 64-bit drivers (at least for XP) makes me still use the 32-bit version.

Thomas

I have found the 32-bit version of Vista slays 32-bit XP in disk performace. I don't know what Vista is doing compared to XP, but running something like QuickPar, or decompressing a big rar set is so much faster under Vista. CPU bound tasks are faster in XP from my testing though.

[jmiddleton]

64 bit processors have additional instructions and registers in addition to the expanded address space. These have the potential to deliver performance improvements but, outside scientific, engineering and server applications, there is very little software that takes advantage of 64 bits and that is unlikely to change for a couple of years.

Most developers are struggling to get their products running smoothly on 32 bit Vista. 64 bit is definitely on the back burner.

Unless you have a real need for Vista (unlikely) I recommend you wait at least 3 months - for drivers to stabilize and companies like Sage to reach the point where they can offer official support for the product. I wouldn't consider 64 bit on a primary system before next year - unless, of course, technology is your hobby and you enjoy life on the bleeding edge.

I think there is plenty of life left in 32 bit, at least for consumer and business desktops or laptops. I have a gadget that measures CPU and memory usage on my 32 bit Vista Business and I have never seen memory utilization over 60% with 2Gb installed. Vista also does a better job of thread management to balance the load on my dual core processor. Memory beyond what the system requires will be used for Superfetch which can also speed things up a bit. An extra Gb or 2 for Superfetch may be a worthwhile investment.

Having said that, Vista doesn't "feel" any faster than XP - the new SageTV 6.1.3 in particular takes forever to load. It's like watching an original IBM PC/XT go through it's Power On Self Test! Both cores of my Athlon X2 4200 are pegged at 100% for the duration of this process. I hate to imagine how long it takes on a lesser system.

[JParedis]

Well, I kind of have to buy VISTA now - as I can get it as OEM. If I wait, than it's the full price.

I'm going for the Home Premium (my 9-year old daughter gets the Home Basic). Based on the feedback, it'll be the 32-bit.

I will add 1Giga to the 2Giga already installed, awaiting what the result will be.
As I'm running a dual core so I'm interested to see improvement on thread management.

I'm a bit worried about Sage loading that slow, hope that can be resolved soon.

Jan