Win 7 64 bit

[Mr 672A]

Can I ask a silly question!

I'm building another computer and I will be using Windows 7 64 bit for the first time.
The question is will programs in 32 bit be ok installed in this 64 bit version or is it only the case that if you use a dedicated 64 bit program it will not run under a 32 bit operating system.
Thanx

[mickc]

you are correct 32 and 64 will run under 64

[mandc]

Most programs and drivers that are 32bit will run fine in a 64bit environment but some won't. Likewise some programs and drivers are exclusively 64bit. Just google the programs you want to use to see if they are OK. I found very few problems when I went 64bit. And I was able to up my ram to much more than the 3-4 GB limit of 32bit.

[Dave001]

Most programs and drivers that are 32bit will run fine in a 64bit environment but some won't. Likewise some programs and drivers are exclusively 64bit. Just google the programs you want to use to see if they are OK. I found very few problems when I went 64bit. And I was able to up my ram to much more than the 3-4 GB limit of 32bit.

While most programs will run fine, It's my understanding that the drivers will need to be written for a 64bit operating system.

[Mr 672A]

Thanks guys!

[lsemmens]

I've been running 64bit for some years and have only found a few items that will not run under it. Mainly stuff that was new when Win98 was king! FWIW I have a Logitech webcam that wiindows 7 will not recognise and that was purchased for an XP system some ten years ago. If you aren't using anything too old, or too esoteric, you should be fine.

[cmangle]

How much Ram do you have?

I've been told that unless you have 4gb or more of onboard ram, moving to the 64 bit OS is uneventful!

64bit Win 7 needs/requires 4gb or more to operate properly! (?)

[jwoegerbauer]

How much Ram do you have?

I've been told that unless you have 4gb or more of onboard ram, moving to the 64 bit OS is uneventful!

64bit Win 7 needs/requires 4gb or more to operate properly! (?)

Minimum requirements (at least) for Windows 64-bit versions, as Microsoft say it:

XP 64-bit -> 1 GB RAM and 6 GB of free hard-disk space
Vista 64-bit -> 1 GB of RAM and 15 GB of free hard-disk space
Windows 7 64-bit -> 2 GB RAM and 20 GB of free hard-disk space
Windows 8.1 64-bit -> 2 GB RAM and 20 GB of free hard-disk space

Be aware not all 64-bit applications written for Windows really make use of RAM more than 2 GB.

[cmangle]

. . . . and how much for optimum?

A 396cu inch V8 engine in a 1969 Chevy Chevelle will "RUN" on 1 barrel carburetor, but will it "PERFORM" ?

or in computer words . . . .

c/p

4GB
We're now getting into serious territory. If you're running a 32-bit operating system then with 4GB of RAM installed you'll only be able to access around 3.2GB (this is because of memory addressing limitations). However, with a 64-bit operating system then you'll have full access to the whole 4GB.

The difference in performance between a system with 2GB of RAM and one with 4GB is like night and day. Even on a 32-bit system that limits the RAM to a little over 3GB, the performance boost is well worth the cost. Not only do application run faster, you can run more applications simultaneously (handy if you run suites like Microsoft Office or Adobe Master Collection).

I recommend 4GB of RAM for all but the most basic of systems.

end c/p

hxxp://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/how-much-ram-do-i-need/17491

[Drift]

4GB is the minimum you'll find at a lot of places now except for a few stray 2GB SO-DIMMs. I'd consider 4GB the absolute minimum these days however for all but the most rudimentary tasks unless you want a slow annoying machine that caches everything to a page file. Memory is a key factor in he speed of a computer and but also one of the most overlooked.

[lsemmens]

My video server is only running 3Gb, was 2Gb up until about a year ago and seems to perform reasonably well. My lappy has 4Gb but the server does outperform it evne when it had only 2Gb ram. FWIW the spec of the server is Athlon Quad core and nvidia 1Gb card, the lappy is only a Pentium dual core also running nvidia.

[jwoegerbauer]

Those who want to know what - regarding RAM - really is fact on Windows computers, sholuld go here:

[jwoegerbauer]

c/p
If you're running a 32-bit operating system then with 4GB of RAM installed you'll only be able to access around 3.2GB (this is because of memory addressing limitations). However, with a 64-bit operating system then you'll have full access to the whole 4GB.

The difference in performance between a system with 2GB of RAM and one with 4GB is like night and day. Even on a 32-bit system that limits the RAM to a little over 3GB, the performance boost is well worth the cost. Not only do application run faster, you can run more applications simultaneously (handy if you run suites like Microsoft Office or Adobe Master Collection).

Only an example:

For the first time, Office 2010 comes in 32-bit and 64-bit. We know, any 32-bit application is limited to using 2 GB of RAM (that includes the actual memory used by application plus any it needs to "reserve"). This usually means Excel 32-bit and its 1.1 to 1.3 GB of RAM usage it will start to throw memory errors.
If you are on 32-bit Excel, it is not surprising that you would start to see such memory errors once file sizes get about 50 MB.


Resume:

Office 64-bit is limited to available memory on the machine, so upgrading to 64-bit always is your best option to avoid memory errors.