hi i'm currently have a amd 64 bit computer runiing windows vista 64 bit
does this meen i can only have the 64 bit version of windows seven or would i be able to install windows 7 32 bit on my 64 bit computer and i know i may seem strange to want to run a 32 bit on a 64 bit but i have my reasons
Your computer can run both version. But if you want to update this vista you can update it to windows 7 64bit. And if you want to use 32 bit version you have to perform clean installation.
If you have a 64-bit processor, then you can install and run either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. See my specs.
I am also curious as to why a person with 64 bit capacity would go with 32 bit. You say you "have your reasons", please share those with us??? I have another friend who has 64 bit capacity but wants a 32 bit install, but that is because he is a total idiot, so I understand in his case.
The only valid reason anyone has for not running a 64bit OS would be software/hardware compatibility issues. Other then that, there is no reason anyone should still be running a 32bit OS.
Driver support for a piece of hardware is the primary reason. I've got a few things around like scanners, and a video capture board which offer no 64-bit support. For these, I keep a 32-bit version of Windows XP on an older computer since they are infrequently used...but for somebody without multiple computers this could be a real issue.
Second....most computers sold in the past with less than 4GB of RAM always included 32-bit OS's....even when the CPU supported 64-bit. For this reason, people are comfortable with 32-bit and have some reservations about moving to 64-bit OS's.
I'm just now moving to 64-bit for the first time with Windows 7 and I've had 64-bit supported processors for a number of years now.
Well, software and hardware is just about the only reason that people us computers...so that is a rather large category. And most of the software that people actually use day-to-day isn't 64-bit...so there isn't that much performance being missed out on.
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