CARMELHILL Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 I'm going to have to replace my computer, and don't suggest a Mac. It's almost 5 years old so it's time. I am wondering which way to go with all this talk about Windows XP not recognizing more than 4 gig of ram. I'll be going to Vista so should I buy a 64 bit machine? Although I've heard rumblings that 64 bit Vista is buggy with the drivers. And if I go 64 will all my old programs still work on it or do they have to be upgraded as well? I think they run in a 32 bit emulation layer but I'm not sure. Nemetchek says Vista 64 if 5% slower because VW doesn't even take advantage of 64 bit, so what's the use in switching? Any help is appreciated. I will going with Dell so if you have a recently new spec let me know....I'm not even sure if I should go with a Quad Core, Dual Core Duo, Pentium, or Xeon (not sure what's the fastest right now or best value for the buck). Quote Link to comment
brudgers Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 The x64 driver issue will mainly effect you if you have old hardware that is costly to replace. An example would be an older plotter such as an HP DJ 750, but this can also be an issue with the switch to Vista in general. An apples to apples comparison between an x32 machine and an x64 machine will have Vectorworks running slower on the x64 machine. But the reason to go to x64, more ram, negates an apples comparison. If you are running multiple apps, then more of Vectorworks will can in ram rather than being paged to disk. In this case Vectorworks will run much faster. More cores mean more speed when multiple applications are running. Xeon processors are the high end of the Intel line and allow for multiple processor configurations. My personal opinion is that the best bang for the buck is through the Dell outlet. Refurbished, Previously Ordered new, and Scratch and Dent systems carry a full dell warranty and are substantially less expensive. http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb I would recommend a Dell Precision T7400. 8 cores of goodness, big power supply, and 3 year NBD onsite warranty. Quote Link to comment
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