Vista x64 or XP Pro 32bit?

W

WinstonTJ

Bought a new CPU today, CD comes from Dell with both Vista (32 & 64-bit) as well as XP Pro 32 bit.

I have Office 2003 Pro.

This will not be a dedicated trading platform - which should I use... XP x86 or Vista x64?

I see the upside of 64-bit vista as being RAM over 4GB but what about software and driver compatability?

I'm leaning back to 4GB RAM with XP Pro 32bit (x86)... Any suggestions?
 
call the tech support lines at the broker's offices, for the software that you use and ask them

just thought you would get more credible answers that way and make this a more private conversation

come back and share what their comments were,

we could all benefit from those answers and conversations

thanks
 
XP 32 bit...tried and true!

Why waste time on Vista which is already going to be phased out soon by Windows 7 ? Doesnt make any logical sense......
 
If you have 4G of ram, if your software is all vista friendly, and you don't care then you should probably use vista 64. It will be prettier and the performance with 4G of ram and SP2 won't be worse in any sense that you'll notice.

I use XP but if you don't care then Vista SP2 would be fine. What surprises me is that if traders are truly looking to build robust systems many don't move to the Server OS's like WS2003 or WS2008. Trading apps do perform better on them.
 
just be advised...

If the program was compiled in a 32 bit environment... it is still a 32 bit program.
VISTA64 compatible simply means it can run in VISTA64.
The program will run under VISTA64's 32bit mode, it is still subjected to all the 32 bit limitations.
 
Quote from Tums:

just be advised...

If the program was compiled in a 32 bit environment... it is still a 32 bit program.
VISTA64 compatible simply means it can run in VISTA64.
The program will run under VISTA64's 32bit mode, it is still subjected to all the 32 bit limitations.
More...


it is amazing how many trading applications will not function in an x64 environment, although you can launch them to run

also,
what is broken are the sub structures within the x32 and x64 environments since so many trading applications and charting applications and trading extentions from those charting applications to the broker interfaces still require the Dotnet API's

until Microsoft makes sure they perform the same for the applications using them, then all those misterious problems of why something works in x32 no longer works in x64...

so, on the surface, yes, in theory, applications should be able to run in both environments, but in reality,

don't put your trading business on the line for these flawed technologies....

call your broker's technical support department and have this discussion with them....

post your results here, we will all benefit and leverage the full benefit of participating on ET
 
Guys - thank you very much for your input. Finding an overwhelming response that XP Pro x86 (32 bit) is the way to go. I use Power E*Trade Pro as well as Bloomberg Anywhere and other systems that are far better integrated with XP Pro x86. I called E*Trade and they did not have a preference but Bloomberg suggested staying away from 64-bit.

In addition – my IT department supports XP 32-bit which is much better knowing that I have someone to call versus being on my own. While on the phone with Dell the kid I spoke with told me (Thanks for confirming Ron) that it takes more processing power and RAM just to get Vista on the same level as XP – Vista is so much bigger and more complicated that you can run a slower processor and less RAM on XP and still be faster & more reliable.

Going with XP Pro x86 (32-bit)

Thanks for everyone’s suggestions & PM’s – much appreciated.
 
We had a laptop with problems that HP finally agreed to replace. When deciding on OS for the new laptop, the service supervisor strongly suggested 32 bit Vista vs 64 bit. He said that 64 bit vista caused more support problems than anything he'd ever seen.

That being said, I have a Vista 64 system that's been fine. But there is no doubt that vista 64 is much slower than xp/32 on my dual core systems
 
vista is a RAM hog...... run the XP if u want to have faster performance...... i personally am happy with Vista...... but I have 8GB of RAM :-D
 
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