32 Bit or 64 bit?

[InFiNiTy]

Whats best?

[codemonkey]

Depends...

And yes, I'm being as vague as you

[InFiNiTy]

Depends...

And yes, I'm being as vague as you
What do youa mean?

[TheMadDutchDude]

He means, what do you want from the system? What are the system specs youre going to have? Etc.

Don't leave us to give a random stab in the dark. Provide us with full information.

[iGoD ReleNtLeS]

heres a quick outline... if you have 4GB or more of RAM, then 64-bit is for you. if under 4GB or 3.5GB should i say, then 32-Bit is for you.

why the neither selection?

[xpress]

heres a quick outline... if you have 4GB or more of RAM, then 64-bit is for you. if under 4GB or 3.5GB should i say, then 32-Bit is for you.

why the neither selection?

Perfect answer. First decide how much ram u need to run your favorite programs, then make a decision. Im running 64bit because i installed 12GB ram...Only disadvantage of 64bit is that a very small number of programs will not install/ be compatible. However, no such problem in windows7 so far. Also, 64bit is generally speaking backwards compatible with 32bit programs.

[coursemyhorse]

Define "best". 64 bit is the future.

[Iainm]

Will all your applications run under 64Bit ? or do they need it

[gurusan]

If you have 4gb ram get 64bit.

If y ou have 2gb ram buy another 2gb and get 64bit :)

[iGoD ReleNtLeS]

If you have 4gb ram get 64bit.

If y ou have 2gb ram buy another 2gb and get 64bit :)

perfect... i dont see the point, why dont they just do away with the 32-bit now. waste of time. every desktop should have 4GB ram in it. Laptops have 2GB as standard now, so why not?

[Duke]

64bit all the way. Everything works fine with it that I've tried, so no reason for 32bit install.

[snakedoc]

64 bit, rude not to. You should have 4 gb of RAM or more these days. You can always run Virtual PC for anything which does not work, such as Webdav. I have win xp and ubuntu in virtual machines. Not found a use for Linux yet though.

[dunx]

I have noticed more and more programs Main stream and free/shareware are adding 64 bit support ie winrar, firefox etc. As far as I can see this means two things there is demand for 64 bit support now or there is an expectation that Windows 7 64 bit is going to be a popular choice. http://www.start64.com/ details a lot of stuff with 64 bit support and daily shows more programs.
Currently I am using Windows 7 64 bit RC as my main OS and recently took advantage of cheap ram prices to upgrade to 8 Gb and wouldn`t go back although I don`t use the full 8 gb often its great to have it there when you need it and the whole systtem just feels a bit snapier and more responsive.

[jonbanjo]

I have noticed more and more programs Main stream and free/shareware are adding 64 bit support ie winrar, firefox etc.

64 bit Firefox is not new. It has existed on Linux for ages. On that platform, plugins have been an issue though. Flash has been a problem as Adobe have not released a 64 bit plugin (although there is now a 3rd party nspluginwrapper that will allow the 32 bit Flash to work with 64 bit browser). Java can be a problem too.

[dunx]

64 bit Firefox is not new. It has existed on Linux for ages. On that platform, plugins have been an issue though. Flash has been a problem as Adobe have not released a 64 bit plugin (although there is now a 3rd party nspluginwrapper that will allow the 32 bit Flash to work with 64 bit browser). Java can be a problem too.

I have only recently moved to a 64 bit OS so I have little knowledge of the history of 64 bit support, however thanks for the info on firefox I had been considering installing the 64 bit version but I`ll probably wait until the issues you mention are sorted.

[escape.artist]

I have only recently moved to a 64 bit OS so I have little knowledge of the history of 64 bit support, however thanks for the info on firefox I had been considering installing the 64 bit version but I`ll probably wait until the issues you mention are sorted.

in windows, flash wont work in a 64bit OS, you'll have to run a seperate 32bit version.
i read up on why, and it's something to do with adobe just not supporting it i think.
so for windows, 64bit firefox = no flash.
dont really see that much point in a 64bit browser though to be fair.
itll do the exact same as 32bit, except run as a 64bit process.
i dont recall a browser ever needing more than 3.5gb or ram to itself :p
might give slight performance gains i guess.

linux on the other hand it's fine with.

[Crazy BigGaz]

I vote for 64-Bit .
Due to be able have 4GB or over. So then the only limit if WIndows 7 does this would be the OS limit, like they did with Vista 64-Bit, but I belive the lowest for that, was 8GB on Vista Home Premium

[Hicks12]

64bit all the way unless you have a lack of ram but you shouldnt at the current pricing for ddr2 :P, 4gb =64bit worth while.

[aspdend]

I presume your processor is 64-bit capable and not x86??

[Darker X]

64bit ftw - more RAM = Happy Me XD plus there arent anywhere near as many compatibility issues between 32bit programs on 64bits as there use to be

[Damaki]

I'd say 64-bit is better for a few reasons. Firstly, you're able to breach the 4GB memory barrier (although it's possible to use more than 4GB of RAM on 32-bit platforms too). Secondly, 64-bit programs have access to more CPU registers than are available on 32-bit CPUs, so it's possible that some (not all) programs can run faster on 64-bit platforms because of the extra resources available.

On the flip side, it's also possible for 64-bit programs to use more memory. This is because in programs where some places use 32-bits to access memory (on 32-bit systems) they must use 64-bits instead on 64-bit platforms. So some applications could see an increase in memory consumption (although not likely by a significant margin).

[stevemilw]

i would use 64bit all the time is it wasnt for flash not working under it. How long is it going to take them?? surely its not that hard to release a 64bit flash update. Everyone else has manged it. If you cant use flash when you need to you end up swtching backwards and fowards between different browsers.

[InFiNiTy]

Oh well i used x64 :D

[Salvation]

64 = for the processor and memory +4gigs
32= for compatability

And im on 32bit << bit dimm see, but the next install i do will be 64bit thats the way its going and why not get the best out of ur 64 bit processor!

[Ravane]

Honestly I've not encountered any problems using a 64 bit system. It's backward compatible for most things anyway. And the memory benefits are too great to ignore.