XP/Vista 32/64 bit plugins abacadabra questions

[KillDivision]

I have some questions, spend the whole day googling, am still confused

Gonna buy a new pc soon (Asus P6T, i7-920, Corsair 6Gb DDR3 1600 Mhz) and need some answers, hope you guys can help me out.
The goal is to have a nice mixing/mastering pc. No internet, no network, no printers, nothing, just an audiorecording pc. I have Sonar 8.

The questions:
What OS? 32 bits or 64 bits?
I wanna use the 6 GB in total, so an 64bits OS would make sence, wouldn't it?

But then i read a lot of plugins (Waves, Toontrack) don't work on a 64bits DAW. So should I install a 64 bits OS and then install 32bits-Sonar so I can use the Waves/Toontrack plugins? Or would a 64bits OS then be a waste? Should I go 32bits all the way?

Or am I totally wrong?

What OS (XP/Vista/W7) would you recommend and what bits version, 32 or 64?


Help would be greaterk:

 

[Temps]

I'm using 64 bit Vista right now. Superior 2 works fine in Cubase Studio 4 64 bit preview edition, however, the Waves plugins I use (L3, Q EQ and RComp) do not load at all. I don't think any of the Waves plugs load, actually. There is only a modest performance boost over the 32 bit version. Running the 32 bit version of Cubase Studio 4 in 64 bit Vista, everything works fine. However, the program itself is a buggy piece of shit. You will nicely sidestep that since you are using Sonar

However, both 32 bit and 64 bit Cubase Studio 4 are slower than my old setup (Cubase SX3 on XP 32 bit).

There is a Microsoft page you can go to, to ensure your hardwire is 64 bit compatible. Check that, and then check your interface separately on your manufacturer's page. Just because drivers exist though, does not mean they are quality drivers.

From my own personal experience, I wish I kept using 32 bit XP with Cubase SX3.

 

[JBroll]

You'll have a hard time getting a lot of hardware working in 64bit, check your software and hardware compatibility to make sure that there are 64-bit versions working. I'd stick to 32-bit for now.

Jeff

 

[KillDivision]

Thanx guys!!

I will go 32bits all the way for safety. A slower pc is always faster than a non-working pc.
Will be overclocking the i7-920 from 2,6 to 4 Ghz to speed things up.

Will try Windows 7 (32bit) because I'm reading everywhere it's faster than XP/Vista on 32bit.

Thanx!

 

[Temps]

I've actually downloaded 32 bit Windows 7 and am probably going to try it out tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.. but you may encounter even more driver issues on W7, even though Vista drivers should work. I'd recommend you just stick with XP, unless companies start supporting Windows 7 faster and more enthusiastically than they have Vista.

 

[KillDivision]

I run Windows 7 on a Dell Inspiron 510m, that's a 1.4 Ghz laptop with 512 Mb memory.
It's a W7 without the Aero thing, but W7 runs well on this old laptop. I had to install the graphic drivers manually, but worked out fine.

 

[lordtech]

mine is vista 32bit. 2GB ram. Works fine for more than a year. And my production is gettinf better and better. .. im using reaper for the whole process. Im using SessionDrummer 2 (SOnar 8) to sample the drumkits.