I am running Windows 7 32bit as got it really cheap of a mate, but since then I have upgraded a lot. Here are my specs
i5 CPU
4Gb ram
ATI 5970
Am kinder trying to talk my self out having to upgrade, would I see much off a difference if I did ?
I am running Windows 7 32bit as got it really cheap of a mate, but since then I have upgraded a lot. Here are my specs
i5 CPU
4Gb ram
ATI 5970
Am kinder trying to talk my self out having to upgrade, would I see much off a difference if I did ?
I went with 64 bit mainly because it felt like the way the future was going (and justified it by buying an extra 4 Gig to go with my initial 2), however is there any benefit? Not from what I can tell.
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^ Is that applicable on dual GPU card (2x1GB)? How about if you SLI/Crossfire it? It would be interesting if a system starts trashing like crazy when running a memory+video memory intensive benchmark on a 32bit system, yet does it perfectly on a 64bit machine.
Honestly, I don't know how Windows calculates the amount of memory-mapped junk. I guess in a worst-case up to a couple of gig COULD be used by IO... but how many games are 64-bit and able to use more than the free 2 gig? At that point the only question is over the memory usage of windows itself
Software is starting to be released in 64-bit only versions now too. I only found out yesterday that Adobe Premiere CS5 doesn't have a 32-bit version. They do bundle Premiere CS4 with Master Collection and Production Premium for those stuck on a 32-bit OS though.
Granted, that's unlikely to be the case for most applications, but still - it has started.
Not that I care. I've been on 64-bit since Vista was released.
Do not forget every program addresses things virtually, so even with 32 bit processes they can address up to 4GB, no matter where they are in real memory. (Ok a slight problem if you wish to map very large files into memory but otherwise not a problem). The real problem is hardware, and most notably PCI disk controllers, A PCI disk controller can only address 32 bits of memory so can only do DMA to the first 4G, to use any memory after that the OS has to copy it. Likewise DMA to a graphic card will also be badly effected, slowing it down greatly. There is no particular reason why a 32 bit os cannot address more paging or segmented memory allows more, AMDs have per processor memory (NUMA). Microsoft just decide that was the limit on 32bit windows server you can use more!
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This has been done to death - the answer is simple: if you have 4gig put 64bit windows on. Everything else is a hack and it's faster and more secure anyway. Period.
I may be wrong, but I think the OP's problem is that he hasn't got both 32 bit and 64 bit to hand, and it's a question of whether it's worth the money to upgrade or not. If he'd bought e.g. a spare oem copy, the license wouldn't cover a 64 bit install would it??? On the other hand, I understand a retail copy covers both?
Anyway, my 2p is if it's just a question of reinstalling windows, then no question, do it and stick 64 bit on as others have said.
If Jamie is asking whether it's worth £60 odd quid to upgrade though, then I'm not so sure...
Unless you're having problems with the 32bit ver of windows that you have installed, i.e. need more memory for sware such as CS5, then stick with it until the need is there.
A Windows 7 licence is valid for both 32-bit and 64-bit, whether OEM or retail - the OEM version only comes one disc whereas the retail pack comes with both, but if you can source the alternative media elsewhere (MSDN/Technet, borrow it off a mate etc), you can use your existing product key and the resulting installation will be completely legitimate.
As above, with 4GB RAM there's really no reason not to go 64-bit unless you have some old non-x64-compatible peripheral device you really can't manage without (and even then there's often ways around it).
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