You are perfectly correct. No performance decrease as well. But be warned that some very very old games/software (mostly pre-XP) MIGHT not run, as they MIGHT be made in 16-bit and 64-bit Windows doesn't support 16-bit programs. Basically all I am saying, is if you want to start playing the original SimCity or the old old Need For Speed games, be prepared to use a Virtual Environment as they wont' run under Windows XP/Vista/7 64-bit. If the above note doesn't affect you, then you won't notice anything, and everything will run perfectly.
I would just go with 64-bit edition if your hardware supports it as it allow terabytes of RAM to be used and there are drivers for almost everything in Windows 7 64-Bit. I use it and I only have 2Gb RAM
go for the 64-bit version, windows 7 64-bit has more support for drivers than previous OS's so most companies know people are going for the 64-bit OS due to the high GB of RAM thats now needed
Alright dude - learnt a lot from you over several threads so cheers! Quick question - is the shark007 codec pack still the best out there for 64bit Windows 7?
Thanks! I don't know with the latest version of each codec pack that exists. But it works VERY well for me. Just avoid installing Real Player, and DivX (it's built-in Windows already), as it will create a conflict. Even installing the web player of DivX, I lose sound on many of my videos. The reason for this, is that DivX setup installs the codec weather you want or don't. But as DivX content is slim to none on the internet, I would not be worried. The reason for this, is that DivX forces that it uses itself and not what you want, so you end up with a messy conflict (same for RealPlayer).
http://quick.mixnmojo.com/grim-fandango-setup http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/grimfandango/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-52201631&pid=50544 http://www.lucasforums.com/archive/index.php/t-185535.html
"It's tricky" means it costs CPU cycles. And it can't be done for drivers at all, since they MUST be able to access the entire machine memory. Just go 64-bit. I did 2 years ago and there was no support. Now if you don't have 64-bit drivers, you don't sell hardware. =faye
Well Microsoft have actually already done it some editions of windows server 2003 32 bit can support upto 64GB ram, but they just dont do it for consumer products i think like xp home
Windows 7 64-bit does seem to be gaining a very high adoption rate. This will encourage more developers to tap into this trend. But with so many PCs still running 32-bit XP then 32-bit systems will still be around for a long while yet. If you have new hardware then why not go for 64-bit. The main advantage at the moment is not software but memory. For most people 4GB RAM will be more than enough, but if you want to experiment with virtualisation (run XP/2000/Ubuntu from within your Win7/Ubuntu system) then the extra RAM opened up by 64-bit systems is a plus. I don't hear too many complaints from people switching to 64-bit systems so it must be fairly failsafe.
+1, there really is no reason not to any more, also the more people using 64bit, the more like it is to be supported fully by driver manufacturers etc.
Actually that is the problem.. people NEED 4GB of RAM, so they switch to 64-bit. You can't address 4GB of RAM with 32-bit OS, it will boot, but that is all. Actually, now they have no choice. If they want Windows 7 certified sticker/label on their product, Microsoft requirement is full feature and polished 64-bit drivers. No proper 64-bit driver, no able to say that it supports and certified under Windows 7. This also applies to software. A software cannot claim it's WIn7 ready if it doesn't run properly under Win7 64-bit.
I am making a new build but don't know what to go for since I will have 4gb RAM. Do all the games etc work well with 64 bit?
Creedy's right its only the really old games that problems arise. Plus the 4gb ram would be your max with a 32bit so if you wanted to upgrade with more ram you'd have to get a 64bit
I don't see why anyone would even contemplate 32bit any more. My old games all work on win7 64. (Homeworld/Baldur's gate/Red Alert)
Correction it's 4GB - Video memory (under Win 32-bit). So, if your GPU is 1GB of RAM, you have 3GB that you can address. To solve this problem, you need to use Windows 64-bit.
