Poll: If You Don’t Have 64-Bit Windows in 2013, You’ll be Missing Out

32 or 64bit Windows?

  • 32bit

    Votes: 3 1.4%

  • 64bit

    Votes: 210 98.6%
  • Total voters
    213

OliverDavis

OliverDavis

OliverDavis

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Just found an article about PC gamers might miss out if they have 32bit hardware/software due to games coming out this year solely for 64bit users due to Ram limitations and obviously instruction sets needing to be larger (Not technical I know, but its 2:15am.)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-21-some-frostbite-games-will-require-a-64-bit-os-in-2013-dice

So to those who still run a 32bit OS as "Gaming PC's do not need more than 4Gb of Ram, so why pay for 64bit?" Its time for an OS upgrade at least.

For those that click this just for the read, I hope you enjoyed!
 
what a crap article. they completely fail to mention anybody running a 32bit version of vista, 7 or 8 can legitimately install the 64bit version for no cost if they get hold of the installation media. the same key works in both editions and is fully supported. you can't upgrade so you do need to do a clean install.

the only people who need to purchase a new OS are poxy XP users. :p and they probably need to spend a shedload of cash on new hardware first.
 
marc2003 said:
what a crap article. they completely fail to mention anybody running a 32bit version of vista, 7 or 8 can legitimately install the 64bit version for no cost if they get hold of the installation media. the same key works in both editions and is fully supported. you can't upgrade so you do need to do a clean install.

the only people who need to purchase a new OS are poxy XP users. :p and they probably need to spend a shedload of cash on new hardware first.
Click to expand...

I was unaware of this!

Also, when popping in Windows 7/8 installation media, you can upgrade from Windows 7 32bit to Windows 7/8 64bit and keep programs, but obviously you cannot go from 64bit to 32bit.
 
Ollie1132 said:
Interesting. About time 4GB became out of date :p
Click to expand...

4GB really is all you need though. I ran a few games and these are the results I got:

Borderlands 2 - 830MB (open area)
Skyrim - 1.5GB (open area with 23+ mods installed)
GTA IV - 1.3GB (open area)
Metro 2033 - 140MB (Start of Lost Tunnels. I found this low value very odd)
Bioshock 2 - 660MB (start of the game)

So as you can see, at no point does my memory usage exceed 4GB, even if you take an unrealistic value of 2GB memory needed for OS.

Although I can understand the reasoning for the move. It looks like future-proofing in a way so that when video games do come to the point where the system needs more than 4GB to run it then there will be little to no problems.
 
valkynaz said:
4GB really is all you need though. I ran a few games and these are the results I got:

Borderlands 2 - 830MB (open area)
Skyrim - 1.5GB (open area with 23+ mods installed)
GTA IV - 1.3GB (open area)
Metro 2033 - 140MB (Start of Lost Tunnels. I found this low value very odd)
Bioshock 2 - 660MB (start of the game)

So as you can see, at no point does my memory usage exceed 4GB, even if you take an unrealistic value of 2GB memory needed for OS.

Although I can understand the reasoning for the move. It looks like future-proofing in a way so that when video games do come to the point where the system needs more than 4GB to run it then there will be little to no problems.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know that games don't use a lot of RAM. But 4GB has been the "norm" for quite some time. Using 64Bit is a lot better from the view point that programs have access to more memory. :p
 
Aside from XP users is there anyone on Vista/7/8 running 32 bit? As mentioned above the key for those works for 32/64 bit versions so it's at no extra cost.

Perhaps there are, but I can't imagine anyone who's built a PC would be running 32 bit :p
 
So they can use the 64bit system to enable RAM to be more efficient, which leads to better gameplay/visuals etc? Is that right?
 
valkynaz said:
4GB really is all you need though. I ran a few games and these are the results I got:

Borderlands 2 - 830MB (open area)
Skyrim - 1.5GB (open area with 23+ mods installed)
GTA IV - 1.3GB (open area)
Metro 2033 - 140MB (Start of Lost Tunnels. I found this low value very odd)
Bioshock 2 - 660MB (start of the game)

So as you can see, at no point does my memory usage exceed 4GB, even if you take an unrealistic value of 2GB memory needed for OS.

Although I can understand the reasoning for the move. It looks like future-proofing in a way so that when video games do come to the point where the system needs more than 4GB to run it then there will be little to no problems.
Click to expand...

I do more than game with my computer and regularly see 6GB+ memory usage. Considering a 16GB kit tbh, closing stuff down just to play a few rounds of a shooter only to have to open them up again is a bore. 1st world problems, y0
 
Deceptor said:
Aside from XP users is there anyone on Vista/7/8 running 32 bit? As mentioned above the key for those works for 32/64 bit versions so it's at no extra cost.

Perhaps there are, but I can't imagine anyone who's built a PC would be running 32 bit :p
Click to expand...

64-bit installs only became the default for pre-built PCs in the last 18 months or so, before that 32-bit was the norm.
 
valkynaz said:
4GB really is all you need though. I ran a few games and these are the results I got:

Borderlands 2 - 830MB (open area)
Skyrim - 1.5GB (open area with 23+ mods installed)
GTA IV - 1.3GB (open area)
Metro 2033 - 140MB (Start of Lost Tunnels. I found this low value very odd)
Bioshock 2 - 660MB (start of the game)

So as you can see, at no point does my memory usage exceed 4GB, even if you take an unrealistic value of 2GB memory needed for OS.
Click to expand...

Your 'test' doesn't really tell the whole story because:
-Most games use 32bit exes with a 2GB limit so you will never see them using huge amounts anyway
-Obviously old/current games are going to be catering for less RAM than future games
-Those games are all cross-platform with PS3/XB360 so will have been designed with less memory in mind than say games designed for PS4
-Texture size has a big impact, if people want to ran with massive texture packs it can boost RAM usage (as well as VRAM) a lot. So even if the game exe is using say 1.5GB the actual memory footprint from the game as a whole may be larger than that.

A move to 64bit games is long overdue but I can understand why the majority of developers have stuck with 32bit for so long due to compatibility reasons.
 
As per hangtime, its not just to do with how much it uses, its down to where and what it can address. I used to play Supcom and Forged Alliance, and when it used to hit the 32-bit ram limitations, it used to crash (unless a mod was installed) those games could use frightening amounts of ram.
 
OliverDavis said:
I was unaware of this!

Also, when popping in Windows 7/8 installation media, you can upgrade from Windows 7 32bit to Windows 7/8 64bit and keep programs, but obviously you cannot go from 64bit to 32bit.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I don't think you can perform an in-place upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit.
 
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