gshaw Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Quick straw poll for those who have deployed 7... did you go for 32 or 64 bit on your builds? I guess it would be down to... incompatible apps driver support
Soulfish Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Currently 32bit due to some issues with 64bit compatibility when we rolled out. When we reimage this summer we'll probably look at moving to 64bit site wide
SYNACK Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) x64 on anything with a cpu that supports it, x32 on any remaining junk that won't. From a managment prespective there is stuff all difference and its way better to have a mix of x32 and x64 Win 7 boxes than some x64 7 and some XP. Driver support for x64 is really good and its usually printers and random education specific junk that can cause some issues. Digital Blue for instance are junk with compatibility along with some cheaper printers and many scanners. As long as you are not too hung up on Aero then most hardware will run 7 with a bit of a ram upgrade unless they are over around 8 years old. Edited January 25, 2011 by SYNACK
m25man Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Overall I've found the 64bit OS to be fine its the 64bit MS Office that I have had compatability issues with especially Macro Enabled Forms and Documents prepared on 32bit versions of Office are Incompatible with 64bit! One, and you have to laugh was Microsofts own Licensing Audit and Agreement Forms. When I couldnt open the forms with my 64bit Office, MS told me I would have to install a 32bit version of Office to use those documents!!!
SYNACK Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I agree, use the 32 bit version of Office even if you are using x64 Windows as the x64 bit is not really ready, even MS admit that.
Killer_Bot Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 All our clients are x86 here and don't think there is any intention of going down the x64 path just yet.
gshaw Posted January 25, 2011 Author Posted January 25, 2011 I have to admit that until my desktops are pushing 4GB RAM the gains I'd get from a 64-bit OS seem negligible compared to possible driver issues and old apps on a 32-bit one... anyone noticed any difference in speed on x64? Although that said it's the faster PCs you'll be putting it on anyway so maybe not the best control for a performance test :-P
irsprint84 Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I m thankful I have the 6th form drop in centre so I use it as a test base! I m looking at making 64 bit images for the room so see how it goes
sted Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 x64 all the way i just find x64 more stable same with vista vist x86 was much more flakey than x64 on the same pc for me. ive decided as i will have to go x64 some time and as most of my servers already are x64 time to bite the bullet and it means i dont have start menus with 2 version of a shortcut one for c:\program files\something\something.exe and c:\program files(x86)\something\something.exe so simple to manage
irsprint84 Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 i just find x64 more stable same with vista vist x86 was much more flakey than x64 on the same pc for me. ive decided as i will have to go x64 some time and as most of my servers already are x64 time to bite the bullet and it means i dont have start menus with 2 version of a shortcut one for c:\program files\something\something.exe and c:\program files(x86)\something\something.exe so simple to manage You dont need ot do that can just do c:\%program files% or whatever it exactly is
DrCheese Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 You dont need ot do that can just do c:\%program files% or whatever it exactly is ? The env variable %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% only exists on 64bit machines, not 32bit machines which is a pain in the backside if you want to have a shortcut that works on both archs. i.e PROGRAMFILES(X86) should go to c:\program files(x86) and c:\program files\ on 32bit. Anyone figure out how to fix that?, aside from deploying a new ENV variable...
gaz350 Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 On my new network it's 64bit win 7 all the way. The thought of managing 2xupdates, drivers and wims and possibly software..... Nightmare although we have a fairly up to date software set, so touchwood not going to get many issues.
chazzy2501 Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I'm using x86 as 3 suites of PCs don't have 64bit drivers for their graphics! Can't imagine PCs with more than 4GB of ram for a while yet.
somabc Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) ? The env variable %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% only exists on 64bit machines, not 32bit machines which is a pain in the backside if you want to have a shortcut that works on both archs. i.e PROGRAMFILES(X86) should go to c:\program files(x86) and c:\program files\ on 32bit. Anyone figure out how to fix that?, aside from deploying a new ENV variable... Use a .cmd that has ::Detecting Windows OS version @ver | findstr /c:"Version 6.1" > NUL: && goto :win7 @ver | findstr /c:"Version 6.0" > NUL: && goto :vista @ver | findstr /c:"Version 5.1" > NUL: && goto :XP ::Detecting X64 bit architecture if "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%"=="AMD64" goto AMD64 :AMD64 Then you can target your commands to the specific version of windows. Edited January 25, 2011 by somabc 2
mrbios Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 ? The env variable %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% only exists on 64bit machines, not 32bit machines which is a pain in the backside if you want to have a shortcut that works on both archs. i.e PROGRAMFILES(X86) should go to c:\program files(x86) and c:\program files\ on 32bit. Anyone figure out how to fix that?, aside from deploying a new ENV variable... Ric_ pointed me to looking at Juntion points for this, I haven't quite got round to trying it out yet but it seems like the way to do it. Personally though all clients are 32bit, our IT office is 64bit, and all the servers are 64bit (including terminal servers) Temporarily the terminal servers - used only for science and maths - have a seperate section on their start menu for loading the apps, eventually i'll get around to sorting that though All clients are 64bit compatible but the most memory any have is 4GB and even that's only one classroom, negatives far out weigh the positives personally, though i reckon we'll make the switch eventually and it'll no doubt be a slow switch over (of when windows 8 comes out)
glennda Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I think you could be right with junction points to sort that - its what microsoft have used to combat badly written apps which need to be able to access documents and settings now that its called users.
mrbios Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I think you could be right with junction points to sort that - its what microsoft have used to combat badly written apps which need to be able to access documents and settings now that its called users. Yea like lord of the rings battle for middle earth computer game, i was quite annoyed when i couldn't get it to run (got it going in the end though)
john Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 We put X64 on as many as possible and its working really well. We are now probably over 60% 64 bit, this allows us to use Photoshop X64 and Premier Pro on a large number of machines as both have 64bit versions.
DrCheese Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Ric_ pointed me to looking at Juntion points for this, Aye, that's what I've done on our terminal server that's 64bit for the time being. If I get into a proper mix of 32/64 machines I think I'll have to make my own env variable or something to ease the transition.
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