xp 32 bit or xp 64

[stephen gibson]

This is closely related to the autocad and vista post...

we are looking at 3D software to implement for ship design. because of the size of assemblys we are hoping to model, I have been looking at XP 64 that will allow us to use more memory. (vista is not an option for the company at the moment). on a 32 bit system the max ram a program will use is 3GB, on 64 bit I believe it will use up to 8GB. if the program utilizes hyperthreading, with a quad processor setup it could use up to 32GB of ram

from what i understand vista is direct3D only, no openGL. you can run 32bit apps on a 64bit platform but drivers for scanners, printers etc are not always availiable. I know a fair amount about Inventor and how this will work but wanted to know how other software will perform on a 64bit platform.

Inventor 2008 will run on XP64, (since R11 it has had a openGL or direct3D option preparing for vista i guess) it does not have hyperthreading therefor will only use 1 processor and 8GB of ram, (studio within inventor will use 2 processors and more ram)

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who knows what the following programs are, (32bit 64bit, hyperthreading, openGL etc) and plans for the future

Shipconstructor
Autoship
Maxsurf, workshop
Solidworks
Mastership
IronCAD


Many thanks

[Tim B]

How much ram do you really need, and how much CPU power do you really need? I think you'll find that CAD work rarely needs more than 1GB of RAM and some mid-range 32 bit processor.

There's no point in having the best computer ever, then not being able to use the software.

Tim B.

[BruceS]

I have been using xp-64 for about a year and a half -- have not found a single advantage over 32-bit. Many vendors do not support xp-64 (Zone Labs, Symantec, etc...). Cannot be upgraded to Vista without a clean install; and I don't believe it supports more than 3g of RAM -- have 4 g in my 'puter, but it only recognizes 3g.

[Tim B]

That doesn't surprise me. I'm currently setting up a 64-bit Server with Linux. It has benchmarked at 3.5 times faster than my 2.4GHz 32bit machine. I doubt you'd see that speed increase in WinXP

Tim B.

[BruceS]

...and you are compiling 64-bit programs to run on it; but all/most available Windows programs are 32-bit, therefore there is no real advantages to a Windows 64-bit os for now.

I have three dual PIII 1.4 Tualatin servers running linux and a dual opteron 64-bit server running Windows (because I can't get 64-bit linux to run CFMX reliably) -- not a whole lot of difference in speed between the old and the new! Damn!!

[TerryKing]

Originally Posted by BruceS

I have been using xp-64 for about a year and a half (snip)...and I don't believe it supports more than 3g of RAM -- have 4 g in my 'puter, but it only recognizes 3g.

Bruce, I just helped a friend who is a Recording Engineer with a couple of his machines.. He is editing a movie (for the last year...) and has built two machines with 64 Bit Athlon processors and XP-64.

He has 4G physical RAM and was only seeing 3Gb in XP. I worked thru his BIOS Setup and found that for 4Gb and above, a setting needs to be made IN BIOS to remap memory just below 4Gb that is used for memory-mapped PCI devices. There were two choices, one "SW" and one "HW".

I picked the "HW" choice, rebooted and XP-64 saw 4 Gb!!

He runs multiple instances of Vegas Video plus Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Audition 1.5 all at once, and this gives him more margin and performance.

New info to me: I need to read up on the PCI Memory Mapping issue.

?? Something like this might work for you.

[BruceS]

Thanks Terry:

Looks like you are correct. It's my mb that can only use 3g of RAM. The BIOS sees the 4g, but says it can only use 3. MB is ASUS A8R32-MVP with 4 X 1g chips.

Bruce

[stephen gibson]

Ram is extreemly important for mid to high range mechanical CAD packages, try opening and using a 1000+ part assembly in solidworks or inventor with only 1GB of ram, then try to render a 10 second animation of the assembly. the CPU speed is less improtant but still a factor.

each new release of software generally requires more resources, this is partly due to lazy programmers knowing there are generally more resources availiable and taking shortcuts instead of writing tight code