Windows 7 x86 or x64?

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

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Joined
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I'm knocking up a PC for a friend, he's not gonna be gaming or making any videos or anything like that, just browsing the net and doing what I guess most people do on their computers.

The machine has 4GB RAM which is the max allowed by x32 Win7, is there any point/benefit in going for x64 given the intended use of the machine?
 
Go with 64bit personally, least your ready of you do fancy a memory upgrade and I think 4gb also includes video memory, so if you have a card installed this will be taken into to account.
 
There's no reason to go 32 bit anymore unless you have programs that refuses to run on 64 bit systems. I just run a VM to bypass this problem though (why is there a 16 bit program still being used in my uni course :p?)
 
Ok cheers guys, x64 it is.

Are there still issues getting drivers and programs to work or is x64 pretty much the norm now? The x64 sticky mentions this but is obviously 7 years old now!
 
Orcvader said:
There's no reason to go 32 bit anymore unless you have programs that refuses to run on 64 bit systems. I just run a VM to bypass this problem though (why is there a 16 bit program still being used in my uni course :p?)
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These issues don't come up anymore within Windows 7, XP had issues with running 32 bit applications in a 64 bit install.

As for what to get, most processors are 64 bit capable, your OS will support more than 4gb of RAM as well if you choose the 64 bit.
 
I went over to 64bit in 07 and have not had any real problems with it, just a couple of drivers in the early days, but never now.
32bit should have died years ago
 
32bit is pointless now, 4gb memory limit was a joke, how many of us still only have 4gb of memory, don't know why they still sell it.
I have a 10 year old printer & works flawlessly under W7 64bit.
 
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Nightglow said:
32bit is pointless now, 4gb memory limit was a joke, how many of us still only have 4gb of memory, don't know why they still sell it.
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The reason I asked is that the PC I'm using has 4GB RAM (as do plenty of machines sitting on the desks of people who buy a PC just to go online with) and will be more than sufficient for what he's going to be using it for. So with no intention or requirement to go above 4GB RAM, I was curious as to whether x64 was worth it.
 
Big Chris said:
The reason I asked is that the PC I'm using has 4GB RAM (as do plenty of machines sitting on the desks of people who buy a PC just to go online with) and will be more than sufficient for what he's going to be using it for. So with no intention or requirement to go above 4GB RAM, I was curious as to whether x64 was worth it.
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even with just 4gb its worth it
4GB limit refers to total addressable memory space and not just the RAM installed. It's a total made up of system RAM, graphics RAM so going to 64bit will let it use every bit of ram in the pc.
if the 32 bit pc has 4gb ram and a 1gig graphic card your wasting 1gig of system ram in the 64bit pc your not
 
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