windows 7 32bit or 64?

[Togsy]

i have a vista pc with 2gb ram which is currently 32bit

which windows 7 should i upgrade to, windows 32 or 64?

 

[Tews]

If you plan on running windows 7 64bit, you should upgrade your ram to 4gb.... while it would probably run on only 2gb, the experience would be less than satisfactory...

 

[Digerati]

You need to make sure there are 64-bit drivers for all your hardware before going 64-bit.

If you plan on running windows 7 64bit, you should upgrade your ram to 4gb.... while it would probably run on only 2gb, the experience would be less than satisfactory...

Perhaps I am misinterpreting that statement (forgive me if I am), but it seems to imply that 2Gb would drag down a 64-bit system. That is not true. 64-bit does not require more RAM - but it will utilize more RAM if available. The operating system will still take advantage of 64-bit even with 2Gb of RAM installed, but it may not be noticeable. Bumping your system to 4Gb will indeed improve performance with 32-bit or 64-bit. But because of overhead and addressing restrictions, a 32-bit system will only see around 3Gb while a 64-bit system can take advantage of the full 4Gb, plus much more.

Either way, your hardware MUST support 64-bit if you wish you go that way. If you can't find 64-bit drivers, you would be better off sticking to 32-bit, or upgrade your hardware first. Note that in "most" cases, 64-bit Vista drivers will work fine with Win7.

 

[ratePV]

You need to make sure there are 64-bit drivers for all your hardware before going 64-bit.

If you plan on running windows 7 64bit, you should upgrade your ram to 4gb.... while it would probably run on only 2gb, the experience would be less than satisfactory...

Perhaps I am misinterpreting that statement (forgive me if I am), but it seems to imply that 2Gb would drag down a 64-bit system. That is not true. 64-bit does not require more RAM - but it will utilize more RAM if available. The operating system will still take advantage of 64-bit even with 2Gb of RAM installed, but it may not be noticeable. Bumping your system to 4Gb will indeed improve performance with 32-bit or 64-bit. But because of overhead and addressing restrictions, a 32-bit system will only see around 3Gb while a 64-bit system can take advantage of the full 4Gb, plus much more.

Either way, your hardware MUST support 64-bit if you wish you go that way. If you can't find 64-bit drivers, you would be better off sticking to 32-bit, or upgrade your hardware first. Note that in "most" cases, 64-bit Vista drivers will work fine with Win7.

I had a discussion abt that some week before.

I managed to run Vista x64 with 1 GB of RAM at a noticeable
faster speed than a Vista x86!

So i (at least) think that RAM is not a REQUIREMENT for a x64 system.
The x64 system only ENABLES using more then 3.5 GB of RAM

 

[DocBrown]

Scan your PC for compatibility

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx


" Doc "

 

[SURF]

I have two PC's runing 32bit and one running 64bit honestly havent noticed much difference. One thing that you might like to consider is that its harder to get old programs, and devices to run on 64bit. so if you have a 7 year old printer or so i would stick to 32bit.

 

[satchmo]

Eventually, every program is going to be 64-bit. It's just a matter of time.

You can take the plunge now, or you can wait.

 

[Digerati]

Eventually, every program is going to be 64-bit. It's just a matter of time.

I agree, but the problem is, most 32-bit programs run just fine on 64-bit systems, and there are still many more 32-bit systems out there. It takes a lot more resources (as in manhours) for software makers to develop two versions of the same program so right now, there is little financial incentive for them to do so.

 

[sixpackcuda]

I think if you're ever going to want more than 3Gb of system memory, you'll need to have a 64-Bit version of windows. Not sure about Win7, but I think 32-Bit Vista only supports up to 3Gb. (Although I've also read that 32-bit can also support up to 4Gb, not sure which is accurate)

I remember back when 512Mb of ram was a lot, now we're all running several Gigs.. so it may pay off going with a 64-Bit OS to be ready for memory upgrades.

 

[sygnus21]

i have a vista pc with 2gb ram which is currently 32bit

which windows 7 should i upgrade to, windows 32 or 64?

Drivers Drivers Drivers!!! + 64-bit software support!!!

If you already know what software you'll be running/working with then do your research/homework on 64-bit drivers and software before deciding on which Version of the OS you want.

Some software/hardware may not/will not work on, or can be problematic to work with under a 64-bit OS. And "more" RAM isn't always the answer if your software or hardware isn't supported under a 64-bit OS!

When I moved to Vista x64, the move was costly in both hardware and software...but that was a choice I made, and some things I had to either give up on, or keep my 32-bit XP OS installed on another hard drive.

It's easy for people to tell you to "just upgrade", but at $400 dollars for a program like Colorbye's Image Print software or $900-1000 dollars for a Nikon Film scanner, that can be quite costly

Sure, 64-bit supports more memory and is supposed to be better optimized for software and hardware but... do you need more than 4gig of memory??? And.. is the hardware/software "you" use going to be optimized for 64?

In the end i'm using Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit with 4gig of RAM, but to be honest, I seriously thought about going to Windows 7 32-bit (from Vista 64-bit) but in the end I like tinkering and learning so...

Outside of that, for what I do on a daily basis, a 32-bit OS would have worked for me just as well

Just something to think about before deciding on either a 32 or 64-bit OS.

Did I mention Drivers + 64-bit software support?

 

[satchmo]

Two years from now, we won't be having this discussion.

"What?! You only have 4 GB of memory? What programs can you run on your machine?"

 

[Digerati]

I think if you're ever going to want more than 3Gb of system memory, you'll need to have a 64-Bit version of windows. Not sure about Windows 7, but I think 32-Bit Vista only supports up to 3Gb. (Although I've also read that 32-bit can also support up to 4Gb, not sure which is accurate)

It's not a matter of XP, Vista, Win7, MacOS, or Linux or whatever. 32-bit is limited by the Laws of Physics and math to 4Gb (2^32 = 4,294,967,296), although you will not see the full 4Gb due to overhead - typically you will see between 2.8 and 3.5Gb, depending on your graphics card and how it "shares" your RAM.

Did I mention Drivers + 64-bit software support?

Maybe once or twice, as did I in my first post above, and as SURF alluded to with his 7 year old printer example. But to reiterate, if you want to move to 64-bit, make sure 64-bit drivers for all your hardware devices are available first.

 

[sixpackcuda]

Two years from now, we won't be having this discussion.

"What?! You only have 4 GB of memory? What programs can you run on your machine?"

You've got a point there. Depends on what you do, I suppose. For me, I use the map editor for Half-Life 2. When you get to loading a ton of different textures, etc, it's nice to have all the memory you can get. I'm glad I have the room to upgrade if I so desire.

I've been using 64-Bit for about a year. I haven't had any issues that I can recall, so I'd recommend it. But all in all, I suppose there's no real push for average every-day user to use anything other than 32 at the moment. Is there?

 

[sygnus21]

Two years from now, we won't be having this discussion.

"What?! You only have 4 GB of memory? What programs can you run on your machine?"

Two years from now our systems could be obsolete...so do we wait two years?

 

[Digerati]

Two years we WILL be having these discussions - perhaps even 4 years from now. Look how long the floppy has lingered on. SATA drives have been around for years and still most new motherboards come with EIDE (PATA) connectors.

Understand 64-bit is nothing new - 64-bit XP has been around for 7 years!

 

[Frostmourne]

64-bit Linux has been around longer.

 

[Crispy]

If you plan on running windows 7 64bit, you should upgrade your ram to 4gb.... while it would probably run on only 2gb, the experience would be less than satisfactory...

I'm running 7 with 2gb atm and it runs fine even with 4gb u will only use 2.4gb I have never seen it go over 3gb off ram, as for the speed difference you cant really notice it unless you are playing games.