Very interesting, I've never considered this option, I only dual booted Vista/XP or so, never x86/x64. Good point Genuine!
x64 True Advantage Hi Everyone, Everyone thinks 64-bit computing is all about the more Random Access Memory support for the OS. although it is partially true, the real advantage lies in more RAM support per application instance that was previously limited to 2GB in x86 machines. For example, your database application or your Video game could only access 2GB of your RAM. Today you need more than 2GB of RAM per application instance so there is no real logic not to use x64 operating system. If application compatibility concerns you, you could always use virtualization technologies to boot x86 operating systems parallel to your x64 OS.
x64 True Advantage Hi Everyone, Everybody thinks 64-bit computing is all about the more Random Access Memory support for the OS. although it is partially true, the real advantage lies in more RAM support per application instance that was previously limited to 2GB in x86 machines. For example, your database application or your Video game could only access 2GB of your RAM. Today you need more than 2GB of RAM per application instance so there is no real logic not to use x64 operating system. If application compatibility concerns you, you could always use virtualization technologies to boot x86 operating systems parallel to your x64 OS.
sory is true, but x86 can use 4GB, and to be safe windows uses only a little more than 3GB. So only if you have more than 3.5GB it's usefull to run a x64 OS
Well that's true but if your pc has ex. 12GB of RAM installed you have no choice to install something else than an x64 OS.
I would go far as to say there's no point getting Windows 7 unless you do get x64! Even if you are not using applications that make use of x64 now, at least you have the ability to use x64 in the future. Any recent hardware that doesn't support x64 isn't worth using, as its a requirement now that they make and support x64 and 32 bit the same, and any software that doesn't support 64 bit (which means only software that needs to have low level access like antivirus and firewall etc) isn't worth running as it either old or has poor customer support, and any programme that doesn't fall in to that category but doens't support 64 bit thats is reasonable recent is definitely not worth using. Using x64 gives you freedom in the future, and the ability to run apps that are likely to come out with more frequency now that are faster. It hasn't really affected games so much yet, but with really advanced graphics with Directx 11 the games may be able to make better use of more than 2gb of memory boosting performance, hence the ability for you to choose higher resolutions. Depending on what the programme is, 64 bit is noticeably faster than 32 bit. Audio encoding (such as LAME) and video encoding (x264) is noticeably faster with x64 than 32 bit. There is also a big different between the two, the 32 bit versions are optimised, the 64 bit ones aren't! - so the difference would even be greater once optimised apps are produced. If your computer doesn't support x64, then its not worth upgrading. It would be better to save that money and put it towards a new computer in the future Windows 8 will be x64 only. 32 bit has 4gb of available address space, which also has to cover hardware. If you are running a mainstream latest graphics card which are now typically 1gb, then you are limited to less than 3gb of system RAM. If you are running (for example) 2x5870x2's in crossfire on 32 bit, you won't have any address space left for the system RAM :S
video ram and system ram are 2 different entities. If your video card uses your system ram then you need to buy a better card. None of my cards use any of my system ram minus my laptop because it is integrated. that is very untrue. If that was true then all the new Microsoft Server System products would be x86 and x64, they are not. Exchange 2010 is x64 only, 2008 R2 is x64 only, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is x64 only, and Sharepoint 2010 is x64 only.
I guess you have never heard of LAA? It means Large Address Aware and allows application to use more than 2GB RAM.For example games like Crysis,Crysis Warhead and Mirrors Edge are LAA aware by default.Other program .exe-s can be modified to activate LAA And Lets not forget PAE - Physical Address Extension that theoretically allows up to 64GB RAM on x86 machine of Motherboard supports it(Win7 supports this by default)
I guess you have never heard of LAA? It means Large Address Aware and allows application to use more than 2GB RAM.For example games like Crysis,Crysis Warhead and Mirrors Edge are LAA aware by default.Other program .exe-s can be modified to activate LAA And Lets not forget PAE - Physical Address Extension that theoretically allows up to 64GB RAM on x86 machine of Motherboard supports it(Win7 supports this by default)
FYI: the 4 gig limitation includes anything in your system that needs to be addressed, including the RAM in your video card. This is why even with Windows 7 32-bit, only 3 1/4 gigs of system RAM are actually useable. 512MB of the total 4 gigs that's addressable is specifically for the video card. The remaining 256MB difference is for other hardware in the system which needs addressing. My point is that whether you have built-in video that uses your system RAM, or an actual discrete video card with it's own RAM, it doesn't make any difference as far as how much total addressing space a 32-bit OS will handle.
True 64-bit advantages Plus: More bits more functions (like Combinatorics i.e more choice, option etc) Handle larger memory (2^64-1) Process data faster (Like water flow through the pipe i.e the larger the diameter the more water be able to pass through) Task Switching is extremely faster (IBM OS/2 Warp has this capability long ago) Better the system security (Crack a lock with 64 digit codes is double harder) Down side: (IMPORTANT) Drivers. The most obstacles in making decision to switch from 32 to 64. Why? 32 bit driver won't run on 64 bit What is driver and application? Most drivers are ASM or inline ASM codes and very specific to OS platform (32vs 64 bit) Most applications are using compiler that generate CPU micro-codes directly and so there's less issue to run on 64 or 32 bit compatible