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Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Oct 15 2008, 10:55 PM

Well on the back of creating my monster, I have everything setup as I like it and since there were so many differing opinions on Vista & 64 bit, I will now confuse the issue further by telling you what I think having been through it!

So, my initial impressions of Vista are good - I'm a sucker for flashy graphics and love the new Aero theme. Since I am working on a way more powerful machine I don't notice any performance impact - in fact, this is the best way to move to Vista IMO - buy a new more powerful machine, and don't bother upgrading your older machines.

The install was fairly routine - I'm glad to see Vista is a bit cleverer than XP was about getting SATA drivers of an actual CD instead of forcing you to make floppy image (especially as I have no floppy drive!)

So, on to the software, this was the make or break. I had previously verified that my 2 most important devices not only had vista drivers but also 64 bit versions of those drivers - my EMU1212m soundcard and my PodXT Live. Both installed without a hitch and work perfectly. This is a key factpr in upgrading though - make sure all of your devices have support or you willneed to throw them away.

I spent some time installing my many VSTs and various pieces of software, and I am gratified to report that with one single exception, everything worked! That exception is Bournemark Broomstick Bass which actually installs and runs ok but crashes whenever you try and open the interface. Sadly, Bournemark have no plans to produce a Vista copy. In all other cases, I found updated Vista compatible versions of my programs, and in one solitary case I needed to pay an upgrade fee of $10. I managed to install a couple of non Vista aware programs ok by running the install and registration as administrator - necessary for some registry writing rights that would otherwise fail.

So, in terms of software coverage, I have all I had before with that single exception - a lot better than I thought!

Now, I have to say that 64 bit version of programs are still few and far between. Although I can get a 64 bit reaper, it won;t work with 32 bit VSTs as previously reported on this forum, so I have to use the 32 bit version of Reaper. 64 bit support is still very spotty elsewhere as well - I have just a handful of 64 bit apps installed, including surprisingly iTunes - make sense I suppose since OSX is 64 bit by now I guess. However the good news is that 32 bit programs run just fine on 64 bit Vista so going to 64 bit hasn't actually hurt me, I am just not necessarily using the full 64 bit potential of my machine, which for now is fine. I think it will be another couple of years at least before the move to 64 bit gains headway.

Also, there were various opinions on having 8 cores instead of 4 or 2. People were right in that software mostly doesn't make use of all cores, but some of my key software does, particularly reaper. Sony Vegas does for rendering but dissapointingly doesn't seem to for previewing projects with effects on. This will get better over time as well though, and I think somewhat quicker than the 64 bit situation so we will see.

All in all, I am very pleased with my decisions and now have a much faster machine than I did before!

Final Conclusion:

Vista - Yes! The time is Now!
8 Cores - sure why not
64 bit - still a couple of years away but won't do any harm to start now.

Posted by: Emir Hot Oct 15 2008, 11:06 PM

Nice to hear that you're happy with your new system. Yesterday I was prompted to install Vista SP1. It went automatically and I haven't notice any difference than before. Vista is slowly becoming stable system but Microsoft has already announced Windows 7 for the next year.

Posted by: MickeM Oct 15 2008, 11:07 PM

Great to see things are working out for you

I for one am always surfing in the back water, partly because I'm not the least interested in computers and software and partly because I don't have the energy too keep up and I don't understand half of it, I just want things to work. So I'm happy there are people like yourself who are willing to take a shot at it so everything will work well in the future for the illiterate

I mostly entered this thread since it said 64 and I thought Commodore, felt a bit tricked at first but evetually enjoyed the reading. I'll be there in a few years from now when all the fit falls are filled, I will probably not be aware how many cores my future computer will be using at a time. But I hope there will be many.

Posted by: opeth.db Oct 15 2008, 11:32 PM

I have been testing Vista 64 for a while and has been great. Since SP1 has been releasd I have really no issues.

Just have to have the hardware to support it. 4 gig of RAM minimum.

Posted by: jer Oct 16 2008, 12:46 AM

How is iTunes 8 working for you?

It SUCKED for me. I sacked it and moved to Media Monkey.

I'm running Vista 64 on a quad core 4GB machine.

Posted by: Ajmurrell Oct 16 2008, 01:36 AM

I bought a AR series VAIO laptop last year, and it had Vista pre-installed. At the time Vista had horrendous support for a lot of my guitar based software (most notably Adobe Audition), so glad to hear it sounds like Vista is now a bit more supported

Would be very interested to know if you encounter any problems, otherwise I guess it may be time to stop using my XP dual boot! (Which I might add, was the biggest computer pain in my life! SATA drive drivers, among others, screwed me around for months!)

Nice to hear its working smoothly for you though

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Oct 16 2008, 01:53 AM

QUOTE (jer @ Oct 15 2008, 07:46 PM)

QUOTE (Ajmurrell @ Oct 15 2008, 08:36 PM)

I bought a AR series VAIO laptop last year, and it had Vista pre-installed. At the time Vista had horrendous support for a lot of my guitar based software (most notably Adobe Audition), so glad to hear it sounds like Vista is now a bit more supported

Would be very interested to know if you encounter any problems, otherwise I guess it may be time to stop using my XP dual boot! (Which I might add, was the biggest computer pain in my life! SATA drive drivers, among others, screwed me around for months!)

Nice to hear its working smoothly for you though

Posted by: jer Oct 16 2008, 02:00 AM

I'll post anything unfortunate here as well.

So far all is well for me.

I know Waves brand plug ins do not work in 64bit.....

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Oct 16 2008, 02:08 PM

Good news Andrew, I'm glad everything is working nicely. Instead of broomstick I suggest trilogy.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Oct 16 2008, 02:12 PM

QUOTE (jer @ Oct 16 2008, 01:46 AM)

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Oct 16 2008, 02:13 PM

Glad to hear you're happy with new PC

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Oct 16 2008, 02:45 PM

These are great news (that everything works!)..You really inspired me , I should be getting an PC upgrade myself some time soon

Posted by: ChrisVdS Oct 16 2008, 09:06 PM

All this talk about new computers makes me want to build a new one for myself i'm still using my Athlon 64 3500+ with 1.5 gig of slow DDR memory but it still works fine only makes allot of noise because my coolers need to be replaced.

I think my next one will be a laptop somwhere next year maybe...

Posted by: jer Oct 16 2008, 09:15 PM

Wow. Thats almost exactly what I just replaced. Athlon X2 3800. 4gb ram. WAY TOO LOUD OF A CASE + Fans.

My room is oddly quiet now.

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Oct 17 2008, 12:13 AM

Absolutely - in fact trilogy is why i'm not so upset at losing Broomstick - I swapped a few months ago and Trilogy rocks - great reccomendation

QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Oct 16 2008, 09:08 AM)

Posted by: THE BUZZARD Oct 17 2008, 12:42 AM

hi andrew, i,m glad you like your vista, i have been using vista for over a year and i really like it, and it has not given me any problems what so ever, so congrats on the new system !!!!!!!!

Posted by: blindwillie Oct 17 2008, 07:48 AM

Thanks for sharing your experienses Andrew.

QUOTE (Velvet Roger @ Oct 16 2008, 03:12 PM)

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Oct 17 2008, 11:43 AM

Trying it now - thanks!

Posted by: blindwillie Oct 17 2008, 12:12 PM

I could have been polite enough to add a link to it.
http://getsongbird.com/

Posted by: kaznie_NL Oct 17 2008, 03:49 PM

I also have vista (the 32-bits) and no problems at all!

Posted by: Duncan Oct 17 2008, 09:42 PM

Glad to hear you're happy with Vista 64-bit as I'll be getting my new PC early next week. In time for Far Cry 2.