[Help] 32 or 64bit ?

[Cesarcsrf]

Hey guys i just installed Windows Ultimate 7 7100 32bit, and i saw that only 3GB of my ram are used.. so should i install 64bit ?

i'm using a laptop, here are the specs, thanks for any help

 

[nate42nd]

If you are planning to got o x64 when the RTM comes out, I would just install x64 now. That way you will not have many changes when you have to install it in October-September and possibly have issues.

If however you plan to stay wit 32 bit (which is fine)....just stay with what you have now. The 1GB of RAM will not be recognized but it's not a big deal depending on what kinds of programs you are running.

So it can get complicated but it's really pretty simple. Your choice.

 

[Cesarcsrf]

like in games it will make a difference ? and watching HD videos ?

can i update this version of Windows for 62 without losing any data at all ?

 

[nate42nd]

No, you cannot upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit without doing a "clean install" That's why I suggested you switch now if you plan to switch to 64 bit later.

It sounds like it's going to bother you. I would get the 64 bit DVD and do a clean install now. That way you can get used to it, use all of your RAM and do another clean install to the RTM when it comes out later this year.

I hope this has helped you. You can also read a number of threads on 32 vs 64 bit on this forum. There is some very good information here. Just search for 64 vs 32 bit and two or three will come up if you want to know more.

I would just switch now and be done with it so you can use your hardware to the fullest.

Hope this helped. Have a great day.

 

[damoh]

No, you cannot upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit without doing a "clean install" That's why I suggested you switch now if you plan to switch to 64 bit later.

It sounds like it's going to bother you. I would get the 64 bit DVD and do a clean install now. That way you can get used to it, use all of your RAM and do another clean install to the RTM when it comes out later this year.

I hope this has helped you. You can also read a number of threads on 32 vs 64 bit on this forum. There is some very good information here. Just search for 64 vs 32 bit and two or three will come up if you want to know more.

I would just switch now and be done with it so you can use your hardware to the fullest.

Hope this helped. Have a great day.

100% agree, install and you will forget what 32 was like

 

[Cesarcsrf]

i read all some threads here and it seems like i won't be losing anything for installing the 64bits edition... i will give it a try , thanks guys

 

[Victek]

i read all some threads here and it seems like i won't be losing anything for installing the 64bits edition... i will give it a try , thanks guys

.
I'd be interested to know what you think after you've tried it. From what I've read x64 doesn't seem to have a clear advantage on a 4 gig system. Yes, the 64 bit OS utilizes all of the last gig, but it also needs more ram so you may only be breaking even in terms of what's actually available to applications. It's also debatable whether there's any improvement in performance given the limitations of 32 bit applications.

 

[Cesarcsrf]

well so far so good i tested and processor,ram and Graphics went up 1 point check it out

 

[usasma]

I have tried Vista x86 and x64 with 4 gB of RAM and haven't found any significant differences in performance. There's also an article here that tends to confirm this: Vista Workshop: More RAM, More Speed : Windows Vista With 8 GB - Review Tom's Hardware

If you're a gamer, then you'll want the best performance that you can get. In that case you'll have to start with looking at your video card. There are 2 reasons for this:
- it's affecting your performance score in the screenshots above.
- the video card is the biggest reason that you can't see all 4 gB of RAM. This is because it reserves address space below the 4gB limit for it's own use (so the RAM can't use it).

So it's basically a slow video card that's also preventing you from using a portion of your RAM. But, if the video card is using shared video memory (a part of your RAM), then it's possible that that part of your RAM is being used in the reserved address space for the video card. What this means is that any performance increase caused by switching to x64 could be less than expected.

Finally, if this is a laptop, then I'd wonder about the availability of larger RAM modules for it.

 

[CalebDK]

offtopic: wow your rating is 3.8?! that just shut down my idea of getting a laptop, my desktops lowest rating is 5.9 and thats my data transfer

 

[Victek]

So it's basically a slow video card that's also preventing you from using a portion of your RAM. But, if the video card is using shared video memory (a part of your RAM), then it's possible that that part of your RAM is being used in the reserved address space for the video card. What this means is that any performance increase caused by switching to x64 could be less than expected.

Finally, if this is a laptop, then I'd wonder about the availability of larger RAM modules for it.

.
Interesting observation. For a laptop that is using "motherboard graphics" it's likely there is no dedicated video ram as there is in a desktop PC with a separate video card. So, using a 64 bit OS is not going to change the amount of ram available to the system. It would be necessary to also add ram, if possible.

 

[Cesarcsrf]

well first of all thanks for the help guys my video card is a NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS which i believe is dedicated memory..


about the ram i dunno if i can upgrade it, one thing is on my laptop specs it says Memory 6GB (4GB RAM + 2GB Memory Boost) the 2Gb boost i think is by connect a usb drive pen to your system and use Ready Boost , which i started doing.. although now i can't see my WEI, i tried taking out the drive pen and run again but it does not show nothing

 

[usasma]

I'm not familiar with the specific card, but I recently purchased an Asus laptop with a discrete graphics card (and it's own memory).

What's the make and model of your laptop?

It appears that you probably have 256 mB of discrete video memory, and some that is shared (from the first screenshot). This further complicates my theory about the reserved address spaces and the shared video memory. Basically, there'll be 256 mB of the reserved address space that the discrete video memory will address - and the shared video memory would likely occupy other portions of the reserved address space (but this is just a theory on my part - and I'll have to test it with a system with an onboard video card when I get a chance).

I would suggest sticking with the 32 bit version of Windows unless you can get a deal on RAM for the laptop. If you're able to stuff more than 4 gB into it (and the laptop mobo can handle it) then you should upgrade to the 64 bit version.

 

[Cesarcsrf]

hmm.. my laptop is an Insys HD 8761SU, this is the website of the brand , although it's in Portuguese :\ http://www.in-systems.com/lego.php?load=Catalogo&fid=1&exp=0

http://www.in-systems.com/lego.php?load=Catalogo&fid=1&exp=41&pcod=71

 

[GatoSoft]

The graphics card has dedicated memory apart of the RAM. So, you have at least 4 GB. ("at least" because I don't know what's all about "memory boost" yet ). If you have more than 3 GB. of RAM, you need an x64 edition of Windows. If you intall a 32 bits edition, you will be wasting a couple of megabytes there.

See you around! ^_^