Does laptop with 4GB also benifit from 64-bit OS?

[omega3]

As mentioned before I have and older HP dv9790eb (specs) that I want to upgrade.. it has 32bit vista but my computer store says that getting the 64bit version of Windows 7 shouldn't be a problem with my model.

Now, would I benifit getting 64 instead 32bit W7?

My laptop has only 4GB of RAM, however I read this article (click) that says the 32 bit = 4gigs limit also includes graphic card RAM and other things.. the article kinda confuses me to be honnest.

My graphics card specs: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS

Video Memory: "Up to 1791 MB (512 MB dedicated)"

Question in between.. what does "up to 1,8MB" and "512MB dedicated" mean by the way, like how much memory does my vidcard have??

If it wouldn't give a performance benifit, I would go for 32 bit W7 as I also have some 32 bit apps which i would prefer keep on using.

So, even if you only have 4GB RAM, is it worth getting 64 bit over 32 bit Windows 7 or not?

Any other drawbacks I should now about chosing the 64 bit OS on my system?

Thanks for all good feedback!

 

[Carson Dyle]

Do your 32-bit applications not run on 64-bit Windows? I thought most of them did. I know I run quite a few.

 

[coercitiv]

There is no drawback to moving to 64bit version of Win 7. You will actually gain same addressable memory from the 3.2-3.5 you have now up to around 4GB.

Your graphics card has 512MB of memory. Your 32bit programs will likely run just fine on Win x64.

 

[mikeymikec]

If your laptop can only handle a maximum of 4GB RAM, I would go with a 32-bit version of Windows to keep the memory usage down a bit.

 

[omega3]

If your laptop can only handle a maximum of 4GB RAM, I would go with a 32-bit version of Windows to keep the memory usage down a bit.

How is that? Does W7 64 bit perhaps use more memory or something?

 

[coercitiv]

If your laptop can only handle a maximum of 4GB RAM, I would go with a 32-bit version of Windows to keep the memory usage down a bit.

He's already limited to 3.5GB of RAM in Win x86.

 

[mikeymikec]

How is that? Does W7 64 bit perhaps use more memory or something?

Yup.

However, from what I've seen of a Win7-64 system with only 2GB RAM and an SSD, it appeared to take 99% physical memory usage in its stride (ie. lack of noticeable slowdown as a result of the disk's pagefile being more heavily used). I might go for Win7-64 in your shoes with an SSD if your usage is in the realm of the "average user".

 

[omega3]

Yup.

However, from what I've seen of a Win7-64 system with only 2GB RAM and an SSD, it appeared to take 99% physical memory usage in its stride (ie. lack of noticeable slowdown as a result of the disk's pagefile being more heavily used). I might go for Win7-64 in your shoes with an SSD if your usage is in the realm of the "average user".

I'm a bit confused. I do actually intend to get an SSD (and HDD as second drive), but how does that affect memory usage? Second, you mention "average user" so how would things change if you're more of a heavy user or not?

Finally, is it really so that a 64bit Windows 7 uses more memory then 32bit Windows 7.. please explain as i don't see the logic behind that. I thought 64 bit simply gave the advantage of using more memory, not that the 64 bit OS would demand more memory.

Hope you guys can clarify this.. thanks!

 

[Ketchup]

Drivers will use slightly more memory space in 64-bit vs 32-bit. There is also a program space limitation with 32-bit, so a single process can't bog down your machine. Since you have 4 GB, these are probably not going to be issues.

The other worries, drivers and old programs, are pretty much a worry of the past at this point. Most programs really don't care, and 64-bit drivers are available for your model.

 

[omega3]

Drivers will use slightly more memory space in 64-bit vs 32-bit. There is also a program space limitation with 32-bit, so a single process can't bog down your machine. Since you have 4 GB, these are probably not going to be issues.

The other worries, drivers and old programs, are pretty much a worry of the past at this point. Most programs really don't care, and 64-bit drivers are available for your model.

Thanks for the reply as always. Could you clarify a bit what i put in bold in your text. Do you mean 64bit OS bogs down when running a 32bit prog. 4GB is low mem btw.. my lappy is 2008

 

[VirtualLarry]

Finally, is it really so that a 64bit Windows 7 uses more memory then 32bit Windows 7.. please explain as i don't see the logic behind that. I thought 64 bit simply gave the advantage of using more memory, not that the 64 bit OS would demand more memory.

Hope you guys can clarify this.. thanks!

64-bit programs use slightly more RAM, because their default word-size is 64 bits and not 32.

Plus, Windows has to run both 64-bit as well as 32-bit subsystems, so the 64-bit OS footprint in RAM is larger.

Edit: Thing is, with 64-bit, you'll be able to use all 4GB of your RAM (minus IGP), whereas, with 32-bit, you would only get to use ~3.5GB of it.

Personally, my recommendation is to always go 64-bit, as long as you have 2GB+ of RAM, except if you have 16-bit apps that you need to run. (64-bit Windows is incompatible with 16-bit apps.)

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks for the reply as always. Could you clarify a bit what i put in bold in your text. Do you mean 64bit OS bogs down when running a 32bit prog. 4GB is low mem btw.. my lappy is 2008

Sure. That just means that a single program can only use up to 2 GB of RAM. Which is a fairly good amount, but some programs (video editing, for example) would work faster with access to a larger amount.

Since you are right at the line, there are valid arguments going both ways. Your video card has it's own RAM, but 32-bit will render 500 MB of RAM unusable. 64-bit isn't a bad way to go, but would be better if that model supported more than 4 GB of RAM.

 

[omega3]

Drivers will use slightly more memory space in 64-bit vs 32-bit. There is also a program space limitation with 32-bit, so a single process can't bog down your machine. Since you have 4 GB, these are probably not going to be issues.

The other worries, drivers and old programs, are pretty much a worry of the past at this point. Most programs really don't care, and 64-bit drivers are available for your model.

Sure. That just means that a single program can only use up to 2 GB of RAM. Which is a fairly good amount, but some programs (video editing, for example) would work faster with access to a larger amount.

Since you are right at the line, there are valid arguments going both ways. Your video card has it's own RAM, but 32-bit will render 500 MB of RAM unusable. 64-bit isn't a bad way to go, especially if you are open to upgrading RAM in the future.

Maybe stupid question but Chrome has always maxed out my 2,5Ghz dual core laptop.. i assume that mainly depends on cpu however i was wondering if Chrome in 64 bit will behave better.. maybe if it uses more then 2 gigs of RAM when i have like 15 tabs open, but even then.

 

[Ketchup]

Chrome is a memory hog. There is just no easier way to say it. One tab is light, more tabs grow the usage exponentially. A fan test is to open 5 or so tabs in ie, ff, and chrome, and look at the memory usage (which is admittedly a pain as chrome has a seprate process for each tab.)

With your memory count, you might consider a lighter browser. A lot of the spinoffs of ff focus on being light. And of course ff is lighter.

Another version of chrome is still going to be chrome.

 

[tcsenter]

A significant percentage of mainstream and value segment laptops (up to $600) still ship with 4GB RAM and 64-bit OS. That's a pretty decent laptop for it's age, I personally would have no qualms about installing 64-bit on it. The few hundred MB you lose in added memory footprint, you'll reclaim from accessing all your RAM.

BTW, you don't need to buy 64-bit OS. You can backup the activation certificate/OEM product key and install the same edition of Vista that shipped with the PC but using the 64-bit version instead. The product key located on the COA decal/label on the laptop will also work with 64-bit versions of Vista (but are edition specific). Windows 7 is not all that better than Vista. Windows 7 is just Vista 2.0 but with fewer UAC prompts (which is nice).

If interested, let me know and I'll tell you how to backup the current OEM activation certificate and restore it after installing 64-bit version. There is a utility that makes it a snap, called Activation Backup and Restore (ABR).

 

[VirtualLarry]

If one is going to upgrade to an SSD, though, I would personally suggest getting Win7 (64-bit of course), because of TRIM support.

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm a bit confused. I do actually intend to get an SSD (and HDD as second drive), but how does that affect memory usage? Second, you mention "average user" so how would things change if you're more of a heavy user or not?

Finally, is it really so that a 64bit Windows 7 uses more memory then 32bit Windows 7.. please explain as i don't see the logic behind that. I thought 64 bit simply gave the advantage of using more memory, not that the 64 bit OS would demand more memory.

Hope you guys can clarify this.. thanks!

An SSD doesn't affect memory usage at all.

As far as I was concerned, the choice of 32-bit over 64-bit Windows came down to memory. 32-bit Windows supports 3.xGB normally, whereas 64-bit Windows supports >4GB. If your machine only can handle a maximum of 4GB RAM, in my line of work that's where I draw the line if I was upgrading say an XP user to a newer version of Windows, because the 32-bit version requires a bit less memory. I've seen Windows 7 32-bit idle anywhere between 500MB-1GB, whereas Win7 64-bit typically idles at just over 1GB RAM.

Where the SSD comes in is this - let's say you're using your computer for something demanding, (or say that Windows Update and your security product both decide to run update checks at the same time and memory usage spikes, and believe me it does!), and the machine runs low on memory. Normally with a HDD Windows will use the HDD's page file (virtual memory) as a fallback option, and because HDDs absolutely suck at a) quick data access and b) raw data bandwidth in comparison to RAM, responsiveness takes a holiday until memory usage has calmed down again. However, an SSD is an order of magnitude quicker at quick data access and a in terms of raw data access they're up to 5 times faster than a HDD, and as I've said, I've seen a laptop recently with an SSD run out of RAM and the experience seemed about the same as when it has enough RAM, so obviously an SSD helped enormously, whereas a HDD in the same situation would have made the experience a very sluggish one where even things that ought to react immediately (e.g. opening a menu) can sometimes take 10-15 seconds.

 

[mikeymikec]

A significant percentage of mainstream and value segment laptops (up to $600) still ship with 4GB RAM and 64-bit OS. That's a pretty decent laptop for it's age, I personally would have no qualms about installing 64-bit on it. The few hundred MB you lose in added memory footprint, you'll reclaim from accessing all your RAM.

AFAIK, every mainstream laptop (excluding maybe Intel Atom type laptop-a-likes), while they ship with 4GB RAM, can be upgraded to 8GB at least.

That's why I said "if the laptop supports a maximum of only 4GB RAM".

To clarify some of what I've said, a PC with a 64-bit version of Windows, being used for the average uses, 4GB is enough at the moment. However, with Windows XP, once upon a time PCs were being sold with 256MB RAM, which was only "just enough" at that time and I was upgrading them to 512MB RAM, while I built machines with 512MB RAM to begin with. At some point, 512MB RAM was only "just enough" and 1GB RAM was sensible, mostly because user's needs and the needs of the software they are using steadily moves on over time (plus a bit of OS bloat / feature additions over time).

 

[hhhd1]

Running 32 bit windows 7 on a computer with 4 GB of ram and without any dedicated gfx ram result in windows recognizing only 3493 MB or ram, and wasting more than 0.5gb

if you also have 512 of dedicated ram, then you may be wasting more than 1 GB of ram.

you can see the current detected ram size in task manager, under:
physical memory\total

Windows 7 64 bits uses more than windows 32 bits , but not by much , maybe like ~300mb more.

slightly off-topic:

If you are going to buy windows 7 pro, it might be possible to get windows 8 pro instead, and use downgrade rights to install 7, and have the option to use 8 if you liked later .. that is if they come at a similar price or windows 8 is cheaper.

 

[corkyg]

Operationally, if you go 654 bit, you will improve multitasking performance.

 

[omega3]

Running 32 bit windows 7 on a computer with 4 GB of ram and without any dedicated gfx ram result in windows recognizing only 3493 MB or ram, and wasting more than 0.5gb

if you also have 512 of dedicated ram, then you may be wasting more than 1 GB of ram.

you can see the current detected ram size in task manager, under:
physical memory\total

Windows 7 64 bits uses more than windows 32 bits , but not by much , maybe like ~300mb more.

Thanks for all the replies so far.. one thing still not clear:

So I have 4GB of RAM and my video memory specs are: "Up to 1791 MB (512 MB dedicated)"

What does the 512 MB "dedicated" and "up to 1791 MB" mean exactly in my case?

And how does the 512 MB or 1791 MB (??) affect my 4GB RAM usage?

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks for all the replies so far.. one thing still not clear:

So I have 4GB of RAM and my video memory specs are: "Up to 1791 MB (512 MB dedicated)"

What does the 512 MB "dedicated" and "up to 1791 MB" mean exactly in my case?

And how does the 512 MB or 1791 MB (??) affect my 4GB RAM usage?

I am looking at your specifications and see the confusion. This card is actually using the 4 GB of RAM. So, it will use 512 MB by default (meaning that both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows will show the same amount of available RAM on this particular laptop. Now you can let it use up to 1.8 GB of RAM, but in your case, there is no good reason to do that. I would leave it at 512.

Also, I see that this laptop does not support more than 4 GB of RAM.

An SSD would be a good idea for this laptop. Based on the specs (mainly the lack of the ability to upgrade RAM), I would not recommend putting any other expense into this laptop. Save for something newer.

 

[omega3]

I am looking at your specifications and see the confusion. This card is actually using the 4 GB of RAM. So, it will use 512 MB by default (meaning that both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows will show the same amount of available RAM on this particular laptop. Now you can let it use up to 1.8 GB of RAM, but in your case, there is no good reason to do that. I would leave it at 512.

Also, I see that this laptop does not support more than 4 GB of RAM.

An SSD would be a good idea for this laptop. Based on the specs (mainly the lack of the ability to upgrade RAM), I would not recommend putting any other expense into this laptop. Save for something newer.

Do you say my videocard is using all of my 4 gigs of RAM?

I thought I had 4GB RAM + additional 512 MB on the videocard??

Still not sure what "dedicated" means though.

Regarding the "up to 1791 MB".. is that something I don't have by default for which i should make a setting change somewhere.. not that i see the need for doing so, just trying to grasp the concept om my confusing pc specs.

Here are the specs of my dv9790eb laptop again in case of confusion

 

[Ketchup]

Generally, whenever you see the terms "RAM" and "dedicated" together, it means that device has the listed portion of RAM dedicated to it.

If you look at the System page from Control Panel (or right-click My Computer and select Properties) look at your number for Installed memory. The difference between the amount you have and the amount it lists as "available" should tell you how much RAM your video card is using.

There is most likely a setting in the BIOS where you can edit the "dedicated" amount.

 

[hhhd1]

I think your GFX card has built in 512mb of ram dedicated to it, separate from the main system ram (the 4gb), but, if you ran an application that requires more than 512 of GFX memory, it will start using up the main memory, up to a maximum of 1791mb ram.

so if necassary, it will eat up 1279 from main memory if needed, for a total maximum of 512+1279 = 1791


Out of curiosity, I am wondering, how much physicial memory does your windows 32 bits says that it recognize ? (as displayed in task manager)