• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Vista 32 bit and Windows 7 64 bit - memory question

I

imported_Salamander

Senior member
I am currently running Vista 32 bit with 4GB of ram (and yes, I know it doesn't use all of the ram). I will be upgrading to WIndows 64 bit, with the same 4GB of ram. I know it is recommended that one use more ram with 64 bit systems. My question is, given the 64 bit Windows 7 OS will take full advantage of the 4GB of ram, will that compensate for not increasing my ram when I move to a 64 bit OS?
 
Yea, as long as your not doing massive amounts of video/photo editing, HD encoding or things liek that, 4GB is fine for a desktop system. I run 4GB on Win764, and only use around 1.2 for normal day to day tasks.
 
Originally posted by: Salamander
I know it is recommended that one use more ram with 64 bit systems.
Click to expand...

It's not actually. There's no significant performance hit moving to 64 bit from 32 bit that can be alleviated by adding RAM.
 
Originally posted by: GaryJohnson
Originally posted by: Salamander
I know it is recommended that one use more ram with 64 bit systems.
Click to expand...

It's not actually. There's no significant performance hit moving to 64 bit from 32 bit that can be alleviated by adding RAM.
Click to expand...
That's not entirely true. If you have 2GB on a 32-bit system, and you move to 64-bit, you will use more memory, due to 64-bit addressing which could impact performance. Now when in the 4GB range (which is the recommended minimum for 64-bit systems) you probably won't see as much of a difference, due to having more than enough memory to cover the 64-bit addressing.
 
Yes, the extra RAM you will be able to use as a consequence of going to x64 will more then compensate for the larger addressing used. However, especially with Win7, the more RAM you have the better. It will use all your extra RAM to cache frequently used programs from the HD, reducing hard page faults and making your system seem much faster.

Note however that you can't upgrade from x86 to x64...it requires a clean install. I'd recommend just going with Win7 64-bit instead of reloading with Vista.

Ray
[MSFT]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top