Anyone with a 64bit OS feel free to comment.
Im nearing the time to completely replace one of my computers and am sick of running out of memory on EQ1. I want to upgrade to XP 64 to open up more memory but Ive been advised against it by EVERYONE, being told that drivers are sketchy at best and software doesnt work properly. (Ive already been told by everyone that I dont need that much memory, bla bla bla, but this comp would be used only for EQ1, MS Office, and Internet only). And yes, this post is related to yesterdays previous post regarding boxing more accounts on 1 computer...
Things I wont do: buy new software... no new office (i have office xp), no new norton system works, etc. I really want to be able to run the same software as I am now (currently using xp home 32 bit).
Can a 64 bit system run 32 bit software? Are drivers that bad? Im not ready to try Vista at all unless someone provides me considerable compelling evidence I should (I know a bit about it already).
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Ron
I really need advise about upgrading to 64 bit OS please
Moderators: Lavish Software Team, Moderators
Avoid XP 64 bit like the PLAGUE. Drivers for it didn't work or weren't available. Vista 64 is a LITTLE better, but i would stay with XP. How much ram are you trying to use? XP supports plenty of ram without moving to the 64 bit edition. If you want more ram than that, i'd move to server 2003 before i went to XP or Vista 64.
Thank you all for your responses.
I spent 3 hrs last night testing my system, it was quite lengty.
I have 3 GB of RAM (I would put more in but I will eventually add an 8800 GTX to the computer and be at the 32bit ceiling) - and a 256 MB VC - and an AMD 4000+ proc (on the test computer). I tested by completely loading and logging in characters into an empty gulid hall and then loading another and another until I got 3 accounts up and had no available system RAM available. Each test took approximately 10 minutes and I saw no memory leakage during that time. (put each EQ1 instance behind eachother with only 1 active screen and the rest hidden behind eachother-no tiling is enabled)
With my normal startup, completely unmodified with NSW running but disabled, each instance of EQ1 takes approx 70 MB of VC Ram and 700 MB of system RAM.
Using Selective startup, and enabling only wineq2, Logitech for my mouse/kb, and my onboard sound, each instance of EQ1 is EXACTLY the SAME for both Video Memory usage and System Memory usage (less than 1% variance).
Using the same selective startup and advanced systems settings set to optimize for optimal system cache, I get the SAME Video Memory usage and a 40 MB system memory savings (total, not per EQ1 instance).
I then went to the EQ1 in game display options (alt+o) and turned EVERYTHING off or to minimum and noticed a 40 MB gain in video memory and a 40 mb loss of system memory.
I absolutely could not believe any of my results, so I repeated each test 3x, with approx 1% variance in each test. Im flabbergsted. I visually saw on my taskbar that NSW did not load and each time I restarted the computer, it only took 1/10th the time to fully startup (suggesting that things were not loading).
Note that no matter HOW i started my computer and what programs were running, WinEQ2Pro ALWAYS reports that I have 2630 MB of free system memory with just the EQ1 login screen up. Ive also noticed that WinEQ2pro shows my video memory at 597 MB free at the EQ1 login screen as well (which is way higher than my 7800 GT 256 MB card has).
As anyone can see, I need approximately 2900 MB of system ram available to 4 box (video ram is never a problem) - whereas I can NEVER get more than 2630 MB of system memory available which leaves me with a net gap of 270 MB (and my video memory has a 340ish mb of extra ram [stealing from system memory maybe?]). Ive noticed that when I run out of ram and EQ1 uses virtual memory, EQ1 grinds to a complete HALT. Framerates hit 2-3 and everything becomes unplayably choppy (mind you my video card memory shows I have plenty o memory)
This is why Ive posted for help minimizing the amount of system RAM and video ram per EQ instance (I have several posts that have been unanswered). Add the memory leakage, which is just horrific, and 3 boxing with frequent restarts is the best I can do if I want to run smoothly. I know people boxing 5 or more with lower system specs than me, and 4 boxing is my goal (but more would be ideal).
This is why I have inquired about a 64 bit OS. Anyone with answers or input on a 64 bit OS or how to minimize EQ1 memory footprint (or increase my systems available memory) would be greatly appreciated.
I spent 3 hrs last night testing my system, it was quite lengty.
I have 3 GB of RAM (I would put more in but I will eventually add an 8800 GTX to the computer and be at the 32bit ceiling) - and a 256 MB VC - and an AMD 4000+ proc (on the test computer). I tested by completely loading and logging in characters into an empty gulid hall and then loading another and another until I got 3 accounts up and had no available system RAM available. Each test took approximately 10 minutes and I saw no memory leakage during that time. (put each EQ1 instance behind eachother with only 1 active screen and the rest hidden behind eachother-no tiling is enabled)
With my normal startup, completely unmodified with NSW running but disabled, each instance of EQ1 takes approx 70 MB of VC Ram and 700 MB of system RAM.
Using Selective startup, and enabling only wineq2, Logitech for my mouse/kb, and my onboard sound, each instance of EQ1 is EXACTLY the SAME for both Video Memory usage and System Memory usage (less than 1% variance).
Using the same selective startup and advanced systems settings set to optimize for optimal system cache, I get the SAME Video Memory usage and a 40 MB system memory savings (total, not per EQ1 instance).
I then went to the EQ1 in game display options (alt+o) and turned EVERYTHING off or to minimum and noticed a 40 MB gain in video memory and a 40 mb loss of system memory.
I absolutely could not believe any of my results, so I repeated each test 3x, with approx 1% variance in each test. Im flabbergsted. I visually saw on my taskbar that NSW did not load and each time I restarted the computer, it only took 1/10th the time to fully startup (suggesting that things were not loading).
Note that no matter HOW i started my computer and what programs were running, WinEQ2Pro ALWAYS reports that I have 2630 MB of free system memory with just the EQ1 login screen up. Ive also noticed that WinEQ2pro shows my video memory at 597 MB free at the EQ1 login screen as well (which is way higher than my 7800 GT 256 MB card has).
As anyone can see, I need approximately 2900 MB of system ram available to 4 box (video ram is never a problem) - whereas I can NEVER get more than 2630 MB of system memory available which leaves me with a net gap of 270 MB (and my video memory has a 340ish mb of extra ram [stealing from system memory maybe?]). Ive noticed that when I run out of ram and EQ1 uses virtual memory, EQ1 grinds to a complete HALT. Framerates hit 2-3 and everything becomes unplayably choppy (mind you my video card memory shows I have plenty o memory)
This is why Ive posted for help minimizing the amount of system RAM and video ram per EQ instance (I have several posts that have been unanswered). Add the memory leakage, which is just horrific, and 3 boxing with frequent restarts is the best I can do if I want to run smoothly. I know people boxing 5 or more with lower system specs than me, and 4 boxing is my goal (but more would be ideal).
This is why I have inquired about a 64 bit OS. Anyone with answers or input on a 64 bit OS or how to minimize EQ1 memory footprint (or increase my systems available memory) would be greatly appreciated.