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Thread: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

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    New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Hi guys - would really appreciate your input please.

    I'm about to build a new PC based around the new Intel i7 2600k CPU, An ASUS P8P67 and an ATI Radeon HD 6950 and wanted to ask what factors make the decision on whether to install a 32-bit or 64-bit Widows operating system?

    My PC is mainly going to be used for general internet browsing, game playing and using standard applications (Microsoft Office, Sound Editors, Photoshop etc) so not sure if a 64-bit OS would actually benefit me or cause grief with regards to device driver support etc.

    I need to decide on memory for my new PC so I'm not sure do I just buy 2x2GB for a 32-bit OS or go for 6GB and thus open avenue to consider a 64-bit OS?

    Please help, this will be the first time I've upgraded my home PC in 9 years so want every part of the build to be perfect

    Many thanks for reading and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Well Win7 comes with 32 or 64bit on the disc so cost is no problem.

    Driver support isn't too bad anymore, it's not like when Vista came out so couple with that & the fact I fancied using more than 4Gb of RAM (total e-peen alert) I went 64bit, not had any driver issues either

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    There's no good reason to go x86 unless you have a specific device that's 32-bit only, like an old printer. Even then, you should probably upgrade, so it's usually if you've got really expensive hardware, for music production perhaps, where the driver support has lapsed.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    maybe a stupid question but does the 64-bit Windows 7 perform to commands 'quicker' than the 32-bit version or does it just let you multi-task your applications 'quicker'?

    I'm Confused

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    There's no good reason to go x86 unless you have a specific device that's 32-bit only, like an old printer. Even then, you should probably upgrade, so it's usually if you've got really expensive hardware, for music production perhaps, where the driver support has lapsed.
    That's one of my pet hates - the suggestion that you should be expected to "upgrade" otherwise perfectly functional hardware simply because the manufacturer would prefer you to stick your hand in your pocket (again) rather than provide x64 driver support.

    Luckily you can usually get around it if necessary with a bit of imaginative use of VMware/VirtualBox/VirtualPC and a Linux distro or an old copy of WinXP if you have one lying around.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Quote Originally Posted by CaptainCrash View Post
    That's one of my pet hates - the suggestion that you should be expected to "upgrade" otherwise perfectly functional hardware simply because the manufacturer would prefer you to stick your hand in your pocket (again) rather than provide x64 driver support.
    I accept that with some hardware it's a joke, but if you bought a scanner in 2000, I don't think it's reasonable to expect driver support. It all depends how much you spent, when you spent it, and what shape the company is in now - if they're about to go broke, you can't expect much.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Quote Originally Posted by ]EGG[ View Post
    maybe a stupid question but does the 64-bit Windows 7 perform to commands 'quicker' than the 32-bit version or does it just let you multi-task your applications 'quicker'?

    I'm Confused
    It isn't really quicker. If you've got a native x64 application (there are very few) then it should be quicker than an x86 application.

    >4GB RAM is one of the main reasons, that and there being no point to sit there, stuck in the past, for no good reason.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    It isn't really quicker. If you've got a native x64 application (there are very few) then it should be quicker than an x86 application.

    >4GB RAM is one of the main reasons, that and there being no point to sit there, stuck in the past, for no good reason.
    ^What he said^

    Been running 64 bit since Vista came out and all the hardware works a charm. I never had problems with my Creative sound card as this came with W7 driver disks.

    To think about it, only my prodikeys keyboard didn;t have 64bit support, and that's because Creative discontinued it before 64 bit was mainstream.
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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    There's really no reason not to use a 64 bit OS. I've had no trouble at at all with Vista 64 or 7 64 (well, nothing to do with it being 64 anyway) except for an old Canon laser printer with 32-bit only drivers.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    I would go 64bit, You can access all the RAM installed in your system and I personally have never had any driver issues (newer kit) + If you get 32bit OS and you want to upgrade to 64bit further down the line it can be a right pain in the backside (depending on how you have your data spread out over the disks)

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Windows 7 has really made the driver problem for 64bit all but gone. XP64 users suffered all this pain before manufacturers bothered to make 64bit drivers, but now they've nearly all cottoned on and I've not had a single problem with Win7 x64.

    So I concur, go 64 and enjoy.

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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    I also agree - going 64-bit now avoids you having to re-install the Operating System in the future if/when you want/need more RAM.

    You could stick with 4 GB RAM and go the 32bit route (of course, you'd only see 3.5 GB of it) and all will work perfectly fine... but you lose nothing by going 64bit (apart from very old drivers, as everyone says).

    Go 64.
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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    It isn't really quicker. If you've got a native x64 application (there are very few) then it should be quicker than an x86 application.
    I'd read it actually benches better overall - and that's probably because the OS itself (and drivers) are 64bit regardless of the applications. There are other advantages too - it's more secure for example.
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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Hm reading all this makes me consider going 64 bit on my new build....but then i play some old games from time to time (ut goty) and i worrys me in case they wont work! is there really a benifit for someone like me who only sits on 4gb of ram? i use new hardware and printer and scanner and such is all fairly new stuff from 2010 so does have 64bit support,
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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Most old games will work fine with Win7 x64, there are some games with crappy 32bit DRM, like starforce, which will have problems, but you can work around them, usually by installing the newer DRM driver, or you can use a Windows XP installation for that legacy stuff. UT definitely works fine due to lack of DRM.
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    Re: New PC - How Do You Decide On Chosing A 32bit or 64bit OS?

    Quote Originally Posted by MSIC View Post
    I also agree - going 64-bit now avoids you having to re-install the Operating System in the future if/when you want/need more RAM.

    You could stick with 4 GB RAM and go the 32bit route (of course, you'd only see 3.5 GB of it) and all will work perfectly fine... but you lose nothing by going 64bit (apart from very old drivers, as everyone says).

    Go 64.
    i have a 1gb graphics card, so windows only sees 3gb ram in mine,
    i am also planning on going 64bit as i want to get more ram in future and buy a proper mobo, so i will have to get a retail copy
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