Hey all,

I know this question is not directly related to 3DS Max so I apologize if this is the wrong area for it. I am currently running Vista 32 bit OS with 4gb of ram. Is it possible to install Vista 64 bit on the same machine, or does the machine have to be built specifically to use 64 bit OS. Ideally I would like to add more ram to this computer but I know it is pointless if this machine can only run Vista 32 bit.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

C

As far as hardware goes, I think as long as there is a 64-bit driver available for everything you should be fine.

3DS Max Design 2011 64-bit - Advantage Pack
Dell Precision T5500, Dual Six Core Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz, nVidia Quadro 5000, 24 GB RAM, Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Minneapolis, MN, USA

Well, Your machine needs to have a 64bit CPU. I guess if you are asking then it’s because you have one.

You can have multiple OSs in the same machine, I installed a second XP 32Bits in my 64Bits and the Microsoft boot loader allowed me to boot with any of this two OSs.

But be adviced that Windows 64Bits doesn’t have as good support as 32Bits. I have never been able to use a wireless adapter in my 64Bits machine… and many other things never work.

SceneEngine and CrackArt (http://www.crackart.org)
Open Source 3D Texturing Application
3D Production Solution (C++ SDK and Lua scripting)

How would I know if my cpu is 64 bit? My machine currently has a intel core 2 quad.

Core2 Quads are 64bit.

64-bit microprocessor architectures (as of 2008[update]) include:

* 64-bit extensions of the Intel x86 architecture, commonly known generically as “x86-64” or “x64”:
o AMD’s AMD64 extensions (used in Athlon 64, Opteron, Sempron, Turion 64 and Phenom processors)
o Intel’s Intel 64 extensions (used in newer Celeron, Pentium 4, Pentium D, Xeon, Core 2, and Core i7 processors
o VIA’s 64-bit extensions, used in the VIA Nano processors

Source: Wikipedia (at the bottom of that page)

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

OK, so now I’m interested.
I’m running Max on XP Pro 32-bit and would like a 64-bit system, mainly to access more memory when rendering.
I just assumed the my hardware was too old because it came with a 32-bit OS and going to 64-bit would involve expensive hardware upgrades (workstation and farm).
My workstation has twin dual core Opteron 275 processors and the render nodes have twin dual core Opteron 270 processors, each with 4GB RAM, running with /3GB switch.
After reading Steve’s Wiki link and Googling the processors, it seems they are 64-bit processors.
Does that mean I only need to upgrade the OS to say, XP Pro 64-bit, then I can access all 4GB when rendering or potentially add more RAM?

Sort of…

I don’t think you can “upgrade” a 32 bit Windows to 64bit - I believe it would require a complete wipe and install (never tried it myself so I could be wrong on that). I would be tempted, certainly on your workstation, to simply install a new drive with XP64 on it. Your existing drive could be moved to a secondary position so it doesn’t boot, but is still accessible. HDDs are cheap enough these days to make that a viable option.

As for memory, if you’re already using the /3GB then you won’t get much benefit (some, but not much), adding more RAM and you certainly will. Remember that you can install both the 32 and 64bit versions of max on the same system, so you can upgrade your farm over a period of time rather then having to do it all at once, the downside being that you lose the 64bit benefits when rendering though you’re no worse off than you are at present (until the whole farm is upgraded).

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Worth some thought, but I think with 4GB, the gain may not be woth the hassle and expense.
Wiping the HD sounds a bit scary, the new HD would be safer. I could alter the boot.ini to choose the OS at start up.
For rendering I would have to upgrade the farm, that’s were it would get costly, esp with more memory as well. Wiping the HD there would not be as much of a big deal, dont think they have room for a second HD (1u boxes).
Not as bad as I thought though. I had this idea that it would involve replacing processors and mobos, stuff like that, which in a render farm is almost everything.

Certainly - if the new drive was big enough you could partition it and install both OSs, though for the workstation I don’t really see the point as Max 32 bit runs quite happily on XP64. The only “gotcha” is if you have devices for which there are no 64bit drivers, plus I’m not sure at all about how the licensing would work in a multi-partition (or multi-drive) scenario with the 2 versions on different partitions (or drives).

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Steve Curley 09 January 2009 10:01 AM

...As for memory, if you’re already using the /3GB then you won’t get much benefit (some, but not much), adding more RAM and you certainly will....

Actually Steve, isn’t it true that even if the machine only has 4 GB of actual physical ram, there is still a big improvement in that Max would not run into the memory limit at all (which often causes an annoying crash).  Of course if Max is using significantly more than about 3 GB then everything will slow down due to virtual memory disk swapping, but at least it will not crash. 

I say this because I currently use several machines with only 1GB of physical ram as render servers and they work just fine.  Even scenes that are memory intense enough to require the 3GB switch render ok, though of course a bit more slowly.

--3ds Max Design 2009 64bit, Direct3D 9, Win Vista Premium 64, 3ghz quadcore Xeon, Quadro FX1700--

That’s kind of what I meant - there’s a trade-off between size and speed (in a low-memory situation). It does, I suppose, depend on exactly which area the improvements are required in, though overall I would agree there will be an improvement, just not perhaps as much as one might expect (or hope).

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.