Planning Upgrade: XP32 to Vista64 or Win7-64

[Rick Casillas]

At the moment in my opinion xp32 seems to be the most stable platform for cineform. However, I base it on the fact that not many report issues. I can run CS4.1 and cineform without any problems with the exception of the RT engine.

I plan to upgrade my hardware in the near future and I guess the writing is on the wall about 64 bit OS's. Everyone is moving in that direction, due speed and memory space addressing.

My question is, should I upgrade to Vista64 or wait for Win7-64, or optionally stick with XP32 and only upgrade the hardware?

By the number of issues I keep seeing with Vista 32 and Vista 64, I am affraid to jump in and exacerbate my wounds.

Of coarse I will have much stronger hardware, but my main concern is with cineform. Any one using Vista 64 and having good luck or is Win 7 64 worth the wait?

Any help or advise will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick C.

[Peter Beeh]

Hi Rick,
I had an experience where I upgraded to from a 32bit xp dual core machine (can't remember the specs, but mid level in quality) to a much more expensive dell workstation with xeon processor running 64bit vista and the improvement in performance and stability was astonishing. I was running CS3 and Prospect 4K 3.x. (I haven't yet done any projects with the cineform version 4, so am not sure about how this goes in this environment...)

[Rick Casillas]

Thanks Peter.

Every bit helps. I have the choice of XP 32 (with new hardware, of course), Vista 64, and Win 7 -64, but would like to settle on something that will be long lasting. (2 years minimum)

I thinks XP is sweet and stable, but by now it is getting tired and needs to take some time off and let the big (64bit) boys take over and do the heavy lifting.

Rick C.

[Robert Young]

I had been using CS3/XP 32bit/ Intel Quad.
PPro CS3/Prospect HD was constantly pushing against the limits of the XP system's resources causing a lot of annoying instability, constant memory management work-arounds, etc.
Now I have CS4/ Vista 64/ 12 GB RAM/ Intel i7 and the difference is truely astonishing. I haven't gotten into a sizable project yet- waiting for Adobe & Cineform to get finished- But so far this configuration seems very fast, powerful, and stable with CS4
The Adobe says that the CS4 production Suite is really designed for 64 bit OS with 12-16 GB RAM to deliver its optimum performance. I believe it, and it's seems to me that it's the large amount of RAM that's the key. Rendering a CF timeline in AME will run the memory usage up to 6 GB in a heartbeat
I get the impression that Win 7 should be more stable and less "clunky" than Vista.
If you are not in a hurry and are looking for a system that will last a while, you might consider waiting until win 7 64 bit is released later this year, but the bottom line, IMO, is a 64 bit OS, loads of RAM, and an 8 core i7 for HD editing into the future.

[Rick Casillas]

Originally Posted by Robert Young

I had been using CS3/XP 32bit/ Intel Quad.
PPro CS3/Prospect HD was constantly pushing against the limits of the XP system's resources causing a lot of annoying instability, constant memory management work-arounds, etc.

Ok, this is weird, this is my system today, except I have both CS3 and CS4 running. And I do have some small memory issues. Minor freeze and release (snags), etc. Although, CS3 works better because of the RT engine, at the moment. Also, I love the new AME in CS4, once I used it, I cannot go back to CS3.

Originally Posted by Robert Young

Now I have CS4/ Vista 64/ 12 GB RAM/ Intel i7

Even weirder yet, I have the same specs lined up, so far. i7 920 and vista 64 is my only choice at the moment.

I suppose I can always use the win 7 64 RC, but I hate to be a guinea pig.

Thanks for the info, and now that I know Vista 64 actually functions with CineForm, my choice is becoming simpler.

Rick C.

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Robert Young

I had been using CS3/XP 32bit/ Intel Quad.
PPro CS3/Prospect HD was constantly pushing against the limits of the XP system's resources causing a lot of annoying instability, constant memory management work-arounds, etc.

I should qualify the above by mentioning that the big aggrevations occurred on long form projects- 50 min final length, 700-1,000 clips in the bins, etc. Obviously, I haven't gotten this far with the new system + CS4 & PHD 4. So, we shall see.
My gut feeling, plus all that I read, tells me that these problems will be history now, particularly when PPro CS4 & CF finally get all the bugs out..
More in due course...

[Peter Beeh]

Service pack 2 has just come out for 64 bit vista, so a lot of the most horrid early issues have been ironed out. Win 7 might well ultimately be better, but I for one would never want to commit my critical editing system into a new release operating system until it has had a year to reveal it's gremlins in the field and for Microsoft to iron them out. I have 64 bit xp and it works much better than the 32 bit versions as well. Worth keeping in mind too that Adobe certifies CS4 for xp and vista, but I assume not Win 7 (and given how they operate, probably won't until CS5 comes out).

[Marty Baggen]

Is Vista "Ultimate" the only version that ships with 64bit, or does "Business" have it as well? Is the "Business" version suitable?

[Jay Bloomfield]

I want echo a few of the above comments. If you aren't in an emergency, then just wait for Windows 7 x64. But Vista x64 isn't as bad as the naysayers have made it out to be. It's actually quite stable and it has very few problems. Further, I am running Vista X64 and W7 x64 RC in dual boot and quite honestly, I don't know what all the fuss is about Windows 7. It's not that much better than Vista, at least to me.

Another option is to download the free Windows 7 x64 RC and run it in dual boot with XP. If it works okay for you, you can gradually shift over. Personally, I wouldn't shift, because W7 is still not a finished product. Anything that you are doing that is "mission critical" would not be a candidate for running under W7.