Thinking about moving onto Win7 64 Bit

[Sasqui]

I've got the need to install 64 bit version of AutoCAD. I could go with XP, but I want to bite the Win7 bullet.

If I go that route, my main concern is all the 32 bit applications I already have, not to mention drivers... though I don't have much other than stock hardware and what you see in my sig.

How do 32 bit apps generally run in Win7? I've got MS office 2007, Paint Shop Pro, and of course a bunch of games.

What sort of headaches am I looking at?

 

[Solaris17]

headaches? honestly nothing more than specifically downloading 64bit drivers. all my 32bit apps run and i can even play really old games etc in win 7 its a fantastic experience compared to my XP X64 days. For sure your making a good decision.

 

[sneekypeet]

Only thing I have found that doesnt like W7 64 are really old games from pre XP days. PSP MSoffice07, and my games run fine.

I say bite that bullet.

 

[Solaris17]

If you dont do this. ill drive 20min to manchester and punch you in the mouth.

 

[newtekie1]

Yeah, there is really not issues running 32-bit programs in 64-bit Windows(7 or Vista).

The general rule is that the OS will run programs from one step back without issue. So 32-bit Windows can run 16-bit programs without issue, and 64-bit Windows can run 32-bit programs without issue but not 16-bit.

The 16-bit issue has caused me a problem here or there for some really really old programs/games. Even if the game was 32-bit, sometimes the installer would be 16-bit, so I couldn't get it installed using traditional methods.

But generally if you are using anything from the past decade, you are fine.

 

[Sasqui]

If you dont do this. ill drive 20min to manchester and punch you in the mouth.

Hahahaa... we really do have to hook up sometime.

So, what flavor of Win7 should I be looking for, considering I'm on a budget. I can get a hold of MSDN for a trial run.

 

[newtekie1]

I'd go with Professional if possible, don't bother with Ultimate. Though Home Premium should be good enough for more users.

 

[Solaris17]

Hahahaa... we really do have to hook up sometime.

So, what flavor of Win7 should I be looking for, considering I'm on a budget. I can get a hold of MSDN for a trial run.

seriously your not that far. I'll grab a few 6 packs and we can shoot the shit. honestly for regular use home premium or w/e is fine. I won professional from a nice man on here holding a contest once. and some run ultimate. but honestly some of the options are relatively useless. bit locker encryption is something im just not interested in if SWAT wants my PC they can pry it from my cold dead hands.

 

[fenurch]

I've recently (5 or so months) went from using 32bit for years and years to 64bit and well.. there's not an awful lot of difference. Except for the fact that you have to Program File folders (Program Files and Program Files (x86) and that your PC actually used all your RAM if it's over 3 (or 4) GB's. Also, all the 32bit software works fine and I've never encountered any problems.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

Do it do it do it!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sasqui]

seriously your not that far. I'll grab a few 6 packs and we can shoot the shit. honestly for regular use home premium or w/e is fine. I won professional from a nice man on here holding a contest once. and some run ultimate. but honestly some of the options are relatively useless. bit locker encryption is something im just not interested in if SWAT wants my PC they can pry it from my cold dead hands.

Where are you now? Last I saw, up near Concord. I may have a source for a legit version, waiting to hear back.

I'd probably need nothing more than home premium... need to find that bloody feature matrix that shows what you do and don't get with the different flavors.

I've recently (5 or so months) went from using 32bit for years and years to 64bit and well.. there's not an awful lot of difference. Except for the fact that you have to Program File folders (Program Files and Program Files (x86) and that your PC actually used all your RAM if it's over 3 (or 4) GB's. Also, all the 32bit software works fine and I've never encountered any problems.

Yea, the 4+ GB RAM thing is another plus. I've watched AutoCAD 32 bit and 64 bit in action side by side with a large dataset. 64 Bit made the 32 bit look like 2 bits.

What do you mean by "you have to Program File folders"?

 

[Solaris17]

yup i lived in hillsboro but i moved back to concord for the time being. is this the chart you were looking for?

also

 

[Sasqui]

What's with the XP Mode 2 thing? I also want remote desktop.. seems like Pro is what I'm looking for.

Is there anything like Ghost now with Win7?

Edit: I like the "unspecified features" in the bottom chart WTF is that?

 

[Solaris17]

What's with the XP Mode 2 thing? I also want remote desktop.. seems like Pro is what I'm looking for.

Is there anything like Ghost now with Win7?

yeah im pretty happy with pro. lets me do w/e i want anyway. what do you mean by ghost? like backup features? If thats the case no. I dont find them particularly useful I use acronis even with the windows capability. As for XP mode. It allows you to run it in SP2. If HP is limited by this i wouldnt know. Maybe just XP mode is availible in HP or maybe not at all. I wouldnt be able to comment on that. though I could go check.

 

[Perseid]

Your only possible issue is with drivers. I have a PS2 Eyetoy I've been using on XP as my webcam, and extensive google searching shows there are no 64-bit drivers for it, nor are there likely to ever be. So I may have to buy a new webcam with my new computer(which will use W7 64).

I did a test run of W7 64 on this machine, though, and everything else worked fine, software and hardware. And if you ARE concerned about really old games, DOSBox runs Windows 95 now, so you're going to get the best of all worlds.

 

[ShiBDiB]

What do you mean by "you have to Program File folders"?

think he ment two not to

But ya with 64 bit systems windows creates 2 Program files x86 (thats 32bit) and a Program files folder. Not sure why as I install everything in custom folders and it has 0 effect on anything.

 

[newtekie1]

What's with the XP Mode 2 thing? I also want remote desktop.. seems like Pro is what I'm looking for.

Is there anything like Ghost now with Win7?

Edit: I like the "unspecified features" in the bottom chart WTF is that?

It isn't XP Mode 2, it is XP Mode with a 2 bringing attention to note 2 at the bottom of the page, which I have no idea what that note says(though I'm guessing something about Virutalization being required).

XP Mode, IMO, isn't that serious of a thing, in fact I prefer to use VMWare Player to run a virtual XP anyway.

Remote desktop is the ability to connect to the computer. Home Premium still has the ability to connect to other computers running Remote Desktop, it just can't accept connections.

 

[Sasqui]

It isn't XP Mode 2, it is XP Mode with a 2 bringing attention to note 2 at the bottom of the page, which I have no idea what that note says(though I'm guessing something about Virutalization being required).

XP Mode, IMO, isn't that serious of a thing, in fact I prefer to use VMWare Player to run a virtual XP anyway.

Remote desktop is the ability to connect to the computer. Home Premium still has the ability to connect to other computers running Remote Desktop, it just can't accept connections.

I am wondering about XP compatibility, but not particularly interested in using any VM software to do it. That could change depending on needs.

I was indeed looking to host.

 

[Solaris17]

I am wondering about XP compatibility, but not particularly interested in using any VM software to do it. That could change depending on needs.

I was indeed looking to host.

then pro would be as low as you can go.

 

[sneekypeet]

Enough of this talk, why isn't 7 in yet!

 

[Batou1986]

Win 7 64 bit is the real deal makes xp64 look like the half assed pos it is, i have had 0 issues with 64 bit.

I would highly recommend win 7 pro all the lesser versions are crippled there's a lot of stuff you cant do on home premium such as local security policy and other management tools

 

[Drone]

I'd go with Professional if possible, don't bother with Ultimate. Though Home Premium should be good enough for more users.

Concur. You can't join domain with Home but for regular user Home is totally reasonable.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

64bit runs fine bro even old old old games run like a charm example

Monster Truck Madness released in 1996 still runs today on Win 7 Pro 64bit just installed it and blam done ran like a charm. and that games 14 nearly 15 years old theres no reason to hesitate.

after 14 machines built with win7 ive yet to have any issues on all 14 of them with 64bit win7

 

[Frick]

Monster Truck Madness released in 1996 still runs today on Win 7 Pro 64bit just installed it and blam done ran like a charm. and that games 14 nearly 15 years old theres no reason to hesitate.

Some games work, others does not. Deus Ex does not like Windows 7, neither does Max Payne.

You could get problems with other legacy software though.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

really? max payne runs fine for me...... or maybe it was the 2nd game not sure eitherway out of some 50 games all of mine work no issue. Granted theres always going to be a few but then again

i can think of 2 games that dont work at all properly on any nvidia hardware after the 7000 series

Shogun Total War and Medieval total war so i can think of 2 games that dont work on gpus more then i can think of incompatible games with Windows 7 64bit.

That said even old games like FF7 and FF8 run just fine here especially with the custom drivers u can download to make the game run properly again so most games that do have issue theres easy to find solutions for