Windows 64 bit OS /Chess GUIs

[AdminX]

Help, I just purchased a new 64bit Core 2 Duo Laptop. It came with a 32bit version of Vista Home. I plan to make it dual bootable with a 64 bit version of Linux and a 64 bit version of Windows. My question is which 64 bit version of Windows do you think I should choose? Also is Zap!Chess still the only 64 bit Chessbase GUI available or are there others?

Thanks

[Tony Thomas]

I am not a chessase guy, but as far as I know Zapchess is currently the only 64bit chessbase engine.

[Nid Hogge]

Unless you like pressing F8 every time you boot, in order to disable driver signing, you really should stay away from Vista x64. If you won't do that, you will have big trouble running all kind of applications.

Driver wise you ain't going to be lucky with any of them.

[Tom L]

I have run both window xp 64 and Vista 64

Go with Vista. It has better driver support than xp

I have been running it for a while without problem.

With either you may not be able to run certain programs.

Dual boot

Tom

[Shaun]

A vote for Vista here...

I am currently running XP 64-bit and Vista 64-bit the driver support will get better for Vista I doubt the same for XP 64-bit...

For optimal compatibility (excluding unix flavours) I would dual boot with 32-bit XP.

I have seen some XP licences with free Vista licences and I belive that if you buy Vista you can get hold of an XP licence - I would be reluctant to buy a straight XP licence today.

Shaun

[M ANSARI]

Win XP Pro 64bit might be a better choice simply because you can install it over and over again on differing machines without validation headaches. Do a quick check on what hardware you will be using and most likely you will have 64bit support unless you have some really old stuff like a 10 year old scanner etc...

I have a setup where I use Win XP 32bit and Win XP 64bit and Vista Ultimate 64bit. If it wasn't for my constant switching around of hardware I would only install Vista 64bit Ultimate ... but it is always nice to have an old version of Win XP 32bit to run legacy stuff. Also 64bit XP seems to have a very small footprint in comparison to the other stuff ... and once you clean up a Master install of unnecessary software you can have a full Win XP 64bit installation that can be imaged on a single DVD or thumb drive (I always include all my chess software on that installation as well). With that master image I can install on differing computers quite quickly even if some drivers on the motherboards are different. I have been using same image for 2 years now and maybe installed it on 15 different machines.

[Spock]

Key thing is how much memory you have.... if it's only 1GB then XP X64 would be my vote. If it has 2GB or more, then go with Vista x64.