i have an amd 64 processor but only 2gb and no intention of upping to 4gb ram. all i will be running at once is firefox, itunes, solitaire, and maybe utorrent. which would you go with?
Honestly I would go to 64 bit. You already have it you might as well keep it. And its not the whole point of jsut running things at once, its the time it takes to load the program and to maintain it The more RAM you have there better you are off.... you never know when you might want to run more than what you listed.
Only 2Gb and no plans to increase? You may use the 32bit edition but you will be limited to 3Gb memory, so think about your future needs.
I'm running Windows 7 x64 with 2mb of ram with no hang ups. If your computer support's 64 bit go for it. If you don't like the way it works you can always format, and install the 32 bit version.
Based on what? NO compatability here I actual have vista drivers installed with no issues. And I find 64 bit to faster. Just wondering?
What do you base your stuff on dude if you have 4+ GB of ram then use 64 bit stuff... Where as if you have less you should be using the 32 bit copy as a 64 bit copy requires more ram... However I like using 64 bit just for the hell of it and its nice being able to use all that ram since I use Vmware...
You'll eventually want to upgrade. Seriously. Go 64 and wait for a sale at "the egg" for 2GB of ram, even if you only ran Utorrent you'd love the difference. Itunes would too depending on the amount of songs you have.
As so many have said, 64 bit is more important. RAM costs are declining and perhaps an increase will not cost you much. 2GB seems good enough for what you use the PC for. As for itunes, it hangs often and loads slowly, no matter the amount of RAM or which bit. It just does not like the default settings to be changed (itunes to be default media player, it should start at startup, and what not).
I am using 32bits on 3GB of RAM for my desktop.....now I have a laptop with 64bits on 2GB of RAM and its working great. I have just upgrade the RAM to 2 + 2GB = 4GB....and its wonderful. Its DDR3 RAM, so damn expensive for a piece of 4GB RAM or I would have upgrade it to 8GB. Go ahead with the 64bits.
I'm using windows 7 X64 with 2Gb memory and run just fine. I'm playing games online seems no problem. AMD 2Ghz Cpu and PC3200 memmory
What's about old 16bit apps? You can't run them under 64 bit Windows. There are not much of them anymore, but if you need one of them, things start to become complicated. Yes, you can run them under Windows XP mode, but most older 16 bit Apps also don't support network drives. So you can save your work on the virtual drive etc... Running such a software under a native 32 bit Windows is much easier. On 2 GB Ram there is no real reason to use 64 bit. If he ever decides to upgrade his Ram or system, he can still reinstall his OS. I say this although I use a 64 bit OS for more than 3 years now and had only minor problems in the beginning.
Go for 32-bit... i'm running 32-bit w7 with celeron M processor and just 1 gb ram and you know it runs really smooth
The best advise I can give you is to sit down and write what you want to now with your system. And what you might want to do in the nearby future with your system. Be honest and fair. Also try not to be shy in asking yourself if it is that troublesome to reinstall your system at a later point in time.
Hi, If you want the OS to be more stable and also have a higher hardware configuration then should prefer to use the 64 bit version. But if you are have a low configuration PC then you should prefer to work with the 32bit edition. as consumes less RAM and gives high productivity. If you are feeling well with 32bit edition then shouldn't go for 64 bit edition. Actually it depends totally on your requirement.
I have both installed. In respect of performance I could not find a difference. Sometimes 64 was even slower. In respect of compatibility with software the 32 is much better. Drivers for 64 can be a problem too. And there are not so many 64 applications out there. But even if you find them do not expect more performance. 64 is about memory and if the application needs a lot then it will show more performance. If you need more than 4 GB then there is no choice. You have to go with 64. But 64 uses more memory just for running. If you use a graphic card with a lot of memory in the GB range then the blocked address space could create a problem in W7 32. The more graphic card memory you have the less Windows will have for itself in the 32 bit environment. W7 cannot address more then 4 GB and this includes all memory. A way around is PAE but this is very rare at applications.
32 is good, I have 4 GB of RAM and I'm on 32 bit, I don't need to use over 3 GB of them because what the hell, there is no software or game that requires 4 GB of RAM, at least none that I like to play with.
This question is easy to answer. If your system has installed >=4 GB of RAM then 64 bit OS. Otherwise 32 bit since there is NO reason then to go for 64 bit right now....