32bit or 64bit

[farley]

about to buy my new PC and there systems only come with 64bit windows 7. Ive only ever had 32 bit Os systems is 64 bit better or shall i get it withour OS system and install my own? Edited May 24, 2011 by ZeroHour

[localzuk]

64 bit Windows 7 is pretty much the way to go now I'd say. I've yet to come across any issues with using it personally. Your main issues would be for backwards compatibility with old hardware and really old software (it'll run 99% of 32 bit stuff just fine, but some still has 16 bit stuff in it).

[Dos_Box]

64Bit is the future for computing and if it's Windows 7 all 32bit games will work with it anyway and hardware support for x64 on all modern components is teh norm. Go for it, especailly if you want to use more than 4GB RAM.

[DJ-Jonesy]

Depends on what your going to use the system for, Gaming or Photoshop i would say 64 but if your not gonna be using alot of RAM then nothing wrong with 32bit.

 

If given option i would go for 64bit.

[BatchFile]

after asking the same question here: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/71980-32-64-bit.html I've gone with 32bit for most network workstations, so far so good, but I've put 64bit on mine.... Total PITA printing to network printers (it doesn't, as they don't all have x64 drivers and there's no backwards compatability), so I have a VM running my old 32 bit XP workstation install for when things get sticky)

[AWicher]

64bit Windows 7, without a doubt!

[Norphy]

after asking the same question here: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/71980-32-64-bit.html I've gone with 32bit for most network workstations, so far so good, but I've put 64bit on mine.... Total PITA printing to network printers (it doesn't, as they don't all have x64 drivers and there's no backwards compatability), so I have a VM running my old 32 bit XP workstation install for when things get sticky)

 

You can install the 64bit drivers on the printer server for your clients to download. We're kind of in the reverse position, 64bit printer server with 32bit clients, the server has both 32 bit and 64 bit drivers installed and everyone prints OK.

[somabc]

64 is twice as good as 32

[john]

64 bit here, and I had 64 bit Vista as well with no issues We are now over 3/4 at work 64 bit as well and its working really well and not creating any issues.

[IanT]

64-bit here and have been from XP 64-Bit days.

[SYNACK]

64 without a doubt, 32bit is a backwards step which will bite you in future when you have to reinstall everything with 64 later anyway.

[ZeroHour]

Since you say its your own pc definitely 64 bit.

Network wise it really needs proper device testing but for home 64 bit all the way.

[eastanglia]

Id always install 64 bit, like someone else said its the future.

 

Also nowadays most software works fine on it, its not the xp 64bit which was very hit and miss.

[Dos_Box]

64-bit here and have been from XP 64-Bit days.

 

You used XP x64!! Was it because you liked a device driver challenge

[LosOjos]

The build your box website seems pretty damn expensive to me, I've recently priced up a PC for a mate, and for one of very similair spec on build your box (it was a slightly newer graphics card and a different but not really better motherboard) it was £300 more than buying components from ebuyer! (by the way, I didn't just choose all the value brands either so that's not the reason here!)

[mrbios]

Wow wouldn't bother getting it from that website, those prices are awful, to build my home PC it'd cost me close to £2k on there!! **** that.

[mjs_mjs]

I'm sticking with 32bit for the next few years - I have applications for modelling that are written in 16bit and I do use them regularly. I'm aware I can run these in a VM but have no reason to go 64 yet, nor do I need more than 2GB of RAM. So I don't really have a reason to move. The only possible reason I can think of moving 64bit for me will be so I can run 64bit VM's to host 64bit OS's like 2008r2 for testing and certs.

[James2k]

I nearly fell off my chair looking at that website...

 

Windows 7 32-bit at work

 

Windows 7 64-bit at home (8gig ram)

[Earthling]

...........so I have a VM running my old 32 bit XP workstation install for when things get sticky)

 

Why on Earth didn't I think of that.

 

[Alis_Klar]

you can add the 64bit driver to the network printer using additional drivers button. This is the same procedure for installing Windows 9x drivers. This will become more and more important as Windows Server 2008 R2 is 64bit only. You add the 32bit drivers this way on a 64bit server.

 

I have found that some machines won't let you install the 32bit driver on 64bit server locally. You can however do it using Windows 7 Print management console on a 32 bit version of Windows. %systemroot%\system32\printmanagement.msc

[TimmG6376]

Another factor is that while in general the 32-bit flavor of Windows 7 is more secure than previous MS Operating Systems, going 64-bit takes it to another level due to Kernel Patch Protection. We are almost completely transitioned from XP to Windows 7 Pro x64. Only one legacy app remains that will not run locally on the workstations and for that we published the app from our XenApp farm. Only a small group of users need the application and even they do not use it very often.

 

Report: Windows 7 almost five times more secure than XP | Security - CNET News

Edited May 18, 2011 by TimmG6376

[JamesG]

No brainer, 64bit