Reinstalled Vista from x64 to x86

x86 is so much better.

from Sins Forums

I just now about finished reinstalling all of my basic drivers and software after I decided to reinstall vista because I felt it was getting sluggish. it would take maybe 30 seconds longer than normal to boot up and there was a few second delay when i clicked on certain things.

Well I have been using Vista for about a year and a half completely with x64 version. The Retail copy I bought was for 32 bit, but I called Microsoft and they mailed me a DVD with the x64 because I had 4GB of RAM. So I had the 32 bit DVD all along I just never used it. 

Now, I expected that my desktop performance would increase(and it did) But I knew this is just because its fresh. But what I didn't expect was the HUGE performance gain I got in Fallout 3. It was perfectly playable before, going from 25-50 FPS depending on the area. I like my eye candy and I can't play this game without 4X Antialiasing. Anyway, I just lived with the low framerate since it isn't really a twitch game anyways. First thing I try once all of my drivers are loaded up is the rock solid 60 FPS. I had quicksaved on the top of a large hill and you can see for miles. I moved the mouse and was shocked at how smooth the view turned. I was really happy, but it got better. I found a super mutant and tried VATS. Wouldn't you know I was able to target him almost instantly. Before there was a couple of second pause between clicking the vats key and when you can choose which body part to shoot. Also, similarly, the pipboy screen opened up a lot snappier than before.

I don't know if this huge performance difference is just because of a fresh install of windows, or because of switching from 64bit back to 32 bit. It is interesting to me though. Its late now but I am eager to try my other games tomorrow.

31,572 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Do you know how old your video drivers were with the 64bit install?  Older drivers had poor performance in 64bit.

It's also possible your install was heavily fragmented.

 

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

ya its not the switch from 64 to 32 bit. 64 bit is much more responsive and faster provided the drivers are correct, it may also be what DeadlyShoe suggested, that you new graphics driver was updated and allowed better performace.

the sluggishness was a result of "junk" in the system. as well as the more you install the slower the system gets especially if its fragmented for the simple reason there is more data to search and because you have more processes starting up with windows that take time to boot.

though it is nice to have a clean install at times you need not go to that extent to speed up something that has gotten sluggish.

next time try running registry cleaners, defrags, deleting temp/junk/duplicate files, running tune up utility programs to defrag RAM and optimize the system, etc....

and don't use windows defrag its worthless, get something professional like O&O Defrag.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

I keep my system up to date. I was using the same Radeon drivers from 4/09

And from what I read. 64 bit OS uses more overhead trying to run 32bit code compared to 32 OS running 32 bit code. This was a far better performance gain than purging the "junk files" That wouldn't affect a game's framerate so much. My Specs.

Vista 32(was 64)

Core 2 Duo E7200 oc to 3.08Ghz

4GB RAM

video: Radeon 4870

sound: Xonar D2X

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The only test that will tell is to do another clean reinstall, but with the 64 bit OS with all updated drivers.

Then compare it with your fresh 32 bit install.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

64-bit vs 32-bit on the same system has little impact on framerates.  At least on those games. Either there was some other problem with your system or Fallout-3 is coded especially poorly.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

I won't argue that there wasn't anything wrong with my old installation. But I usually end up reformatting about every 6 months. I don't typically notice such an obvious huge performance gain from a fresh install of windows. It could also be that the 64 bit drivers were not as good as the 32 bit counter parts or any number of reasons. I am just happy that it works so well now.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Fairly recently I went from a clean Vista 32Bit install to a Vista 64Bit Install (Both Home premium). Generally I found performance pretty close to the same however with games that can have a heavy RAM useage i.e. LOTRO, AOC my performance increased a little and was smoother. Currently I'm sticking with 64Bit (6GB RAM)

Cheers; Snarl

 

Another Guy From Canada