Which OS should I install

[ReaperXL2]

Hi there people. Just joined the community, but I've been running Windows 7 32bit v.70.77 for a couple of months now. I am currently downloading the latest 32 and 64bit versions v.71.00. I have got an AMD 64x2 5200 processor and am wondering which of the two OS's I would benefit the best from. Can anybody please be of assistance. I am an avid gamer so am unsure which OS version would be more compatible for gaming.

Many thanks in advance to all.

ReaperXL2

 

[Ian]

Welcome to the forums ReaperXL2

How much memory do you have in your system, and are you using any older hardware? I wrote an article here (https://www.w7forums.com/windows-7-64-bit-vs-32-bit-t484.html) which sums up the pros and cons, but if you have more than 3GB of ram I'd test the 64bit RC as you can find out if your drivers work before the RTM.

 

[ReaperXL2]

thanks Ian. your article was very helpfull. I will stick with the latest Build v71.00 32bit.

Again, Many thanks...

ReaperXL2

 

[Psikea]

4 gb of ram is minimum of 64 bit os

if u have 4 or less , u go with 32

more then 4 gb u go with 64

 

[olg207]

do we know whatthe maximum amount of ram is for the 32bit version?

 

[Ian]

do we know whatthe maximum amount of ram is for the 32bit version?

It's around 3.2GB of RAM

 

[olg207]

why is it 3.2gb why dont microsoft round it to 3 or even 4 gig?

 

[Ian]

It's a physical limitation of 32bit address space. You can address up to 4GB of memory of a 32bit system, but then you need to allocate some of that to various caches, graphics card memory and so on. 64bit systems can address much more memory so the limit is much much higher.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Yes seeing how the address allocation doubles each time you add a bit - 33Bit would be 8GB and so on - Double 4GB 32 times for 64Bit

 

[Ian]

Yep, 64 bit works out to be around 17.2 billion GB of ram (theoretically) - although I doubt anyone has that much ram yet! :lol:

 

[[email protected]]

which version of windows 7 should i use to work all program properly

 

[BetaMan]

How much RAM do you have and which processor do you have?

 

[[email protected]]

thanks for yor reply, i hav 1 GB ram and dual core processor of 3.00GHZ speed

 

[Ian]

thanks for yor reply, i hav 1 GB ram and dual core processor of 3.00GHZ speed

We'd also need to know the type of CPU to know if it's 64-bit capable.

 

[BetaMan]

Well, if it's a dual-core running @ 3ghz, then we could probably assume it's 64-bit compatible, but if you have 1 gig of RAM, the answer would be to stick with 32-bit and if you want 64-bit, upgrade your RAM to 4 gigs or more. Hope this helps!

 

[olg207]

yh most dual cores can support the 64bit architecture, and with that speed you sure could. however with the limited ram you have it would be sensible to use the 32bit version, as it doesnt use as many resources, and would be better suited for your ram.
If you upgraded to 4gb or more then you sure could be a able to run 64bit, with ease. Hope i have helped