Getting win 7, should i get 32 or 64 bit?

[Tempered81]

Whats the difference in 32bit vs. 64 bit? I enjoy PC games and have an E8400, Asus P5E3 Deluxe wifi, and HD4850. Should I use a 64bit os? Why?

Thank you.

 

[JackMDS]

x64 runs smoother, a little faster, and support much more RAM than x32.

So, in general x64 is a better choice.

However, some games might not run as they should on x64, and some hardware might not have Drivers for x64.

So make a list what you plan to use. Check online to make suse that all work well with x64, and go for it.

.

 

[KeypoX]

64

 

[hclarkjr]

x64

 

[Mem]

x64 for sure if you have x64 driver support,slightly better security too,also you can use good old DosBox for those old 16 bit games,I'm replaying Privateer 2 at the moment on Win7 x64 via DosBox .

 

[MBrown]

x64

 

[13Gigatons]

64

 

[Tempered81]

well i got win7 installed 64bit and used it for a few days. It was very nice, having come straight from xp table edition. It was a welcomed treat. Many things seemed much faster - on for example was accessing the "remove programs list". I really liked the advanced features, the clock gadget, and docking windows left/right/top. It searched really fast, and was smart about using my memory. However, i had serious issues with my graphcis card and ati drivers to the point that I gave up and am installing windows xp now.

No cd drive, so im slipstreaming it off a freakin fat32 usb pen drive, and it's taking forever. I'll update this post tomorrow and let everyone know wether it was Win7 or something else causing all my graphics troubles. I litearlly could not get a single video game to start up, however linx + furmark would run simultaneously just fine....

Stupid mysteries. If xp installs and gives me the same issues, I'll know it was something else and not win7.

Updates soon. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Mem]

well i got win7 installed 64bit and used it for a few days. It was very nice, having come straight from xp table edition. It was a welcomed treat. Many things seemed much faster - on for example was accessing the "remove programs list". I really liked the advanced features, the clock gadget, and docking windows left/right/top. It searched really fast, and was smart about using my memory. However, i had serious issues with my graphcis card and ati drivers to the point that I gave up and am installing windows xp now.

No cd drive, so im slipstreaming it off a freakin fat32 usb pen drive, and it's taking forever. I'll update this post tomorrow and let everyone know wether it was Win7 or something else causing all my graphics troubles. I litearlly could not get a single video game to start up, however linx + furmark would run simultaneously just fine....

Stupid mysteries. If xp installs and gives me the same issues, I'll know it was something else and not win7.

Updates soon. Thanks for the suggestions.

ATi drivers for Win7 x64 in general are excellent,I'm using 4870 card and have tried all ATi drivers since Oct last year with Win7,never had any problems with gaming,I even play old 16 bit Dos games via DoSBox like X-COM Apocalypse,Privateer 2 etc....

You probably have an issue elsewhere,I did update my DX9.0c to latest version in Win7 too,as I speak there is a new version Feb 2010 (DX9 .0C) out which I'm downloading now,its for all Windows operating systems and you still have DX11 in Vista/7.
DX9.0C link below(Feb 2010).
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en

 

[13Gigatons]

well i got win7 installed 64bit and used it for a few days. It was very nice, having come straight from xp table edition. It was a welcomed treat. Many things seemed much faster - on for example was accessing the "remove programs list". I really liked the advanced features, the clock gadget, and docking windows left/right/top. It searched really fast, and was smart about using my memory. However, i had serious issues with my graphcis card and ati drivers to the point that I gave up and am installing windows xp now.

No cd drive, so im slipstreaming it off a freakin fat32 usb pen drive, and it's taking forever. I'll update this post tomorrow and let everyone know wether it was Win7 or something else causing all my graphics troubles. I litearlly could not get a single video game to start up, however linx + furmark would run simultaneously just fine....

Stupid mysteries. If xp installs and gives me the same issues, I'll know it was something else and not win7.

Updates soon. Thanks for the suggestions.

Maybe you should have tried Windows update and see if there was a newer driver for the card.

 

[Tempered81]

I did try the 9.12, 10.2 and 10.1 drivers - the card is a 4850. I'm now trying new powersupplies, and windows xp. I didn't think to do the directx update, however this may have solved it as i was getting a lot of "direct x" error messages.

 

[TheStu]

In this day and age, 64bit is almost always the answer, especially when it comes to Windows 7. I tried XP64 back in the day, absolute nightmare, lasted 2 days before I reverted. But 7 64 has been a peach, great OS.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

64 for sure!

 

[Tempered81]

Well sadly I had to go back to XP 32bit for my video games. I'll be installing win7 64 bit on my next rig, I guess. I really did like the OS, but it wasn't very friendly with my ati card. (More likely Ati is not on the ball with thier win7 64bit drivers.)

It was the OS, because I'm using the same PSU, mobo, etc, and i just ran through 20 mins of call of duty 4 without any freezes. In win7 it would freeze within 15 seconds.

Thanks for the help & suggestions. When I do go with win7 fulltime, I will be sure to get 64bit.