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Install 32 or 64 bit windows if I have 4 gb

J

Jader88

Member
My computer crashed and wont start. Apparently its a corrupted registry or corrupted video software. I tried updating drivers and everything but that didn't work. Anyway I need to reinstall windows. Before this crash I was using vista 32 bit and Instead of reinstalling vista I would like to install Windows 7. I don't know weather I should buy the 32 bit or 64 bit version? .

I have 4 gigs now and it has to be 1.4 volt ram which is hard to find so I'm not really planning on buying anymore ram until my next build.

if i go with 64 bit Is 4 gigs enough ? because i heard its better to have 6 gigs if you use a 64 bit operating system. And should I purchase the OEM or retail version.
I use my computer mostly for gaming.



I know my hardware is old but I think if I was running vista fine than I shouldn't have a problem running 7.



8800 GTS
4 gigs of ram
intel motherboard P965
 
Some games will not work on x64.

Check the list of your games and make an informed decision.

If you end up that you have to use x32 do not lose a sleep, it would recognize over 3GHz which is OK for gaming or any other regular use.

.
 
It is best to go with 64-bit. Although there are of course a few exceptions out there, pretty much everything now works with 64-bit and even if your apps aren't 64-bit, from my experience, they run in some sort of 32-bit mode and work just fine. 64-bit Has a slight performance boost and allows you to have much more ram, so there isn't much reason not to use it at this point. I held off moving to 64-bit for several years because of various driver issues but those have long ago been solved.
 
The only thing I've ever heard of there being trouble with is old 16-bit installers. The apps themselves were often 32-bit but sometimes used 16-bit installers. I read a few days ago that there's even some sort of emulation/fix for common 16-bit installers built in, but some more oddball installers aren't supported. Even then, you could probably work around it. (I know jedi knight uses an unsupported installer, but you can just install on another 32bit PC and copy over)
 
PingSpike said:
The only thing I've ever heard of there being trouble with is old 16-bit installers. The apps themselves were often 32-bit but sometimes used 16-bit installers. I read a few days ago that there's even some sort of emulation/fix for common 16-bit installers built in, but some more oddball installers aren't supported. Even then, you could probably work around it. (I know jedi knight uses an unsupported installer, but you can just install on another 32bit PC and copy over)
Click to expand...


I use DosBox for my old 16 bit Dos games( I'm replaying 1997 XCOM-Apocalypse at the moment on Win7 x64 via DosBox),Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight 2 runs fine on Vista x64 / Win7 x64 straight out of the box,well at least on my old retail versions(recently replayed them).

Gaming on Vista x64/Win7 x64 OS is not an issue from my experience and I have played a lot of games.

Btw if you are still using old 16 bit software(not games) then there's normally newer 32 bit version or alternative software program available(and freeware programs) for Vista x64/Win7 x64,there is really no real need or point to still be using old 16 bit software nowadays.
 
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Jader88 said:
I have 4 gigs now and it has to be 1.4 volt ram which is hard to find so I'm not really planning on buying anymore ram until my next build.
Click to expand...
If you have no plans to add more memory, I'd just stick with x32 Win7. It's a bit more likely to be free of program or driver issues and there's no significant advantage to x64 with 4 GB of memory.

If/when you move to a new motherboard, you'll likely re-install Wi7 anyway, so you can switch to x64 at that time if you can locate a Win7 x64 install DVD. The Windows Key will work with either version.
 
I have a question on this; If you have 4Gb of RAM and a 512Mb gfx card you can only see 3.5Gb for a 32bit OS, due to it's ability to only address 4Gb in total, correct? So would it be the case that with the same hardware but a 64bit OS, wouldthe full 4Gb RAM be available to the OS, as it can now address the 4Gb RAM and the 512Mb of video memory?
 
If you have 4Gb of RAM and a 512Mb gfx card you can only see 3.5Gb for a 32bit OS, due to it's ability to only address 4Gb in total, correct?
Click to expand...

Maybe. Depends on whether the card requires all 512M to be MMIO accessible.

So would it be the case that with the same hardware but a 64bit OS, wouldthe full 4Gb RAM be available to the OS, as it can now address the 4Gb RAM and the 512Mb of video memory?
Click to expand...

Again, maybe. Depends on whether or not your motherboard supports remapping that the 512M worth of address above the 4G mark. If so, yes you'll get all 4G, if not, no you'll be suck with the same amount you would if you had 32-bit Windows.

And for clarity, this is only relevant with 32-bit Windows. Other 32-bit OSes like FreeBSD, Linux, Windows Server Enterprise, etc can use PAE to see and use all of your memory just fine, provided the BIOS does remapping properly.
 
"Operating systems based on Microsoft Windows NT technologies have always provided applications with a flat 32-bit virtual address space that describes 4 gigabytes (GB) of virtual memory. The address space is usually split so that 2 GB of address space is directly accessible to the application and the other 2 GB is only accessible to the Windows executive software."

"...Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 Memory Support. The maximum amount of memory that can be supported on Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 is also 4 GB. However, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition supports 32 GB of physical RAM and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition supports 64 GB of physical RAM using the PAE feature.

The virtual address space of processes and applications is still limited to 2 GB unless the /3GB switch is used in the Boot.ini file. When the physical RAM in the system exceeds 16 GB and the /3GB switch is used, the operating system will ignore the additional RAM until the /3GB switch is removed. This is because of the increased size of the kernel required to support more Page Table Entries. The assumption is made that the administrator would rather not lose the /3GB functionality silently and automatically; therefore, this requires the administrator to explicitly change this setting.

The /3GB switch allocates 3 GB of virtual address space to an application that uses IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE in the process header. This switch allows applications to address 1 GB of additional virtual address space above 2 GB.

The virtual address space of processes and applications is still limited to 2 GB, unless the /3GB switch is used in the Boot.ini file. The following example shows how to add the /3GB parameter in the Boot.ini file to enable application memory tuning..."

I'm trying to figure out if then, 1x1GB and 1x2GB (3GB total) on a Core 2 Duo laptop running WinXP-Pro 32-bit, will actually, physically use the 3GB and not limit the system to only accessing 2GB and 'blindly' leaving the 1GB out? (without the 3GB tweak)
If the 32-bit dependent applications installed, running simultaneously use +2GB, will the system have problems when trying to utilize the extra 1GB? (without the 3GB tweak)

I will compromise with 3GB total instead of 4GB, but worse comes to worse, the applications I'm running are dependent on XP PRO 32-bit, and if I have to live with 2GB for the time being so be it.

Any suggestions if the 2GB to 3GB upgrade will be efficient with physically raw memory usage?
 
Nothinman said:
Maybe. Depends on whether the card requires all 512M to be MMIO accessible.



Again, maybe. Depends on whether or not your motherboard supports remapping that the 512M worth of address above the 4G mark. If so, yes you'll get all 4G, if not, no you'll be suck with the same amount you would if you had 32-bit Windows.

And for clarity, this is only relevant with 32-bit Windows. Other 32-bit OSes like FreeBSD, Linux, Windows Server Enterprise, etc can use PAE to see and use all of your memory just fine, provided the BIOS does remapping properly.
Click to expand...

Great answer, thanks. I am aware of PAE, but was limiting this question to 32bit XP essentially, which you clarified. :thumbsup:
 
Any suggestions if the 2GB to 3GB upgrade will be efficient with physically raw memory usage?
Click to expand...

Sure, the system as a whole will be able to use all 3G but each individual process will still only get 2G of VM without you jumping through hoops.
 
Jader88 said:
if i go with 64 bit Is 4 gigs enough ? because i heard its better to have 6 gigs if you use a 64 bit operating system.
Click to expand...

I only have 2 GB, and on my setup, there's no performance difference in the latest games between 32 and 64-bit Windows 7.

The only games that won't work are games with some 16-bit code... which are super old by now... these are games that can be well emulated or virtualized anyways, so I wouldn't let that hold you back.
 
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