Modern & Retro Gamer- 32 Win 7 or 64 Win 7

[GeekyGamerGirl]

So I heard about how Win 7 64 bit will thrive off all that RAM that there was no point previously fitting into my motherboard, despite its ability to suck that up (pity the darned thing can take 8gb but only in DDR2 not DDR3 grrrrrr). Then I heard about all those nasty compatibility issues with Win 7 64 bit. As one of those old fashioned types that stuck with XP, waiting until something better than Vista was released by that ugly old fart Bill, I'm ready to be excited but I'm not sure what to do? I guess you could say I'm predominately a gamer (sad as that is for a blonde chic in her 20s that's still considered reasonably attractive LOL.. yes I'm going to wake up 40 with my life wasted at the console but damn those games are fun) but I also use the net a lot, including YouTube where I have a beautiful circle of friends I don't want to give up. I read that Flash Player doesn't like 64 bit Win 7? Does that mean YouTube and other popular internet sites won't work? Or does it just mean I need to buy Win 7 Pro & run stuff like that in XP mode? I'm so confused. There seems to be so many plusses for 64 bit and so many minuses. I would have bought 32 bit 7 Home Premium today but my tame little Chinese Aussie wholesaler said "no have today. You buy 64 bit. I no able sell 32 bit. Nobody want... eeeh! You come back tomorrow or buy 64 like smart girl". Haha.... so what do I buy tomorrow? 32 bit home premium? Or 64 bit home premium? Or 64 bit professional so that XP mode can run programmes that are going to kick up about being run in 64 bit mode? I should add that the games I run are not all new. I run both modern games and games as old as Morrowind and Bloodrayne (1) or Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (Troika game era 2004). I'm quite an avid modder so I'd be pissed to lose all those old games that I've worked so hard to improve people's experiences of. Also I have a very old printer and scanner (from the era when Hp Photosmart meant Hp Photolookslikeshite). I don't really care if I lose the ability to use those but it would be a plus not to have to replace them since I really only print documents in B & W these days most of the time.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi GeekyGamerGirl - Welcome to w7forums

I'm not going to tell you which version to buy. That is your decision to make. I will tell you I am running the 64-Bit version on 2GB memory. I'm not a gamer but all my applications run fine on the 64-Bit version.

Windows 7 64-Bit has both 32-Bit and 64-Bit browser. Its the 64-Bit that does not have support for adobe flash player addon. If you use the 32-Bit browser, all the flash games will work fine.

All your older hardware that does not have 64-Bit drivers will not work in the 64-Bit version of windows. If you still want to use your older hardware you will need 64-Bit drivers for them or install the 32-Bit version. If you install Windows 32-Bit, the Vista drivers should work for you.

Another thought would be to purchase the Retail version and not OEM. OEM only come in 32-Bit or 64-Bit. Which ever one you wish to buy. The Retail comes with both disk in the box so you can choose which bit version you want to install. You can install the 64-Bit version first and then later if you decide too, install the 32-Bit version. Both disk use the same key, however you can only use one version at a time. You can install many times but only use one install at any one time.

 

[catilley1092]

GeekyGamerGirl, welcome to the forums! Like Clifford said above, I can't tell you what to run, but from your post it sounds like you're a serious gamer. If you are, then 64 bit is for you. You can still (and by default you will) run many 32 bit programs with little issue. With a 32 bit OS, you only have 3GB RAM available to you, it doesn't matter if you have 8GB installed, 5GB will be wasted. With 64 bit, you can run multiple programs at the same time, depending on how much RAM you have. Until two weeks ago, I was running on 2GB RAM, I watch a lot of news and other video clips and found 4GB to be my preference. It's all I need, and considered by many to be a happy medium. Too much is a waste. That being said, you need to consider your printer. You stated you print mostly in B & W, you should consider what means the most to you, gaming or printing. It sounds like gaming, but that's your choice. If you only print occasionally (as I do), printers for Windows 7 doesn't cost much. HP has a wide variety of them for any budget, sometimes as low as $39. There are so many posts on this forum regarding printers, I can't begin to count them. There's one other thing to consider, Windows 7 will be the last 32 bit OS offered by Microsoft. If it's what you want, it will be around for a while, but it's 64 bit from the next Windows out. Hopefully, these posts will be of help to you, if you need any more help, come back.

 

[Thrax]

I'm a huge gamer, and I've been running Windows 7 x64 for a year with no issues. It is by far the best OS I have ever used, and I'm the sort that passed on XP for quite a while because it wasn't as fast as Windows 2000 was in gaming when it launched.

I could not be happier with my decision to use the 64-bit OS for me and my games.

 

[Windows7Guy]

Hello GeekyGamerGirl,
Just a bit of FYI to understand the issues with 32-bit and 64-bit OS upgrades and later options that may or may not be available to you later:
When upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 you must upgrade the version currently installed within Windows Vista to the corresponding version in Windows 7. I.E. Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium; Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional; and Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate. You also cannot upgrade a 32-bit operating system to 64-bit -- to migrate from 32-bit to 64-bit will require a custom install.
The architecture between the two is too drastically different to allow such a change. To learn more about the differences between a 32-bit operating system and 64-bit please go to the following link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions
I hope that helps you out!
You can also find lots of information on Windows 7 here in our Springboard website:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/default.aspx
Thanks again,
John M.
Microsoft Windows Client Support