how do you know if you can run 64-bit windows??

A

acee

Gawd
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I'm confused about the 32bit and 64bit windows. I know 64 bit is higher end and cost a load of money to get one. But what are the differences??
 
64-bit didn't really cost much more, if it was an option. The generic x86-64 (or as MS calls it, x64) refers to AMD64 on AMD chips and EM64T on Intel chips. Aside from a few early differences that affected OS writers, the instruction sets are the same.

AMD added it first to the Opteron and Athlon 64 chips. A couple of older model Socket 754 Semprons had 64-bit disabled, but it's generally available in every socket 754/939/940/AM2/S1/F desktop or mobile computer.

Intel enabled EM64T on desktop systems starting with later Prescott core Pentium 4 CPUs, including certain Celeron models. Pentium D and Core 2 CPUs also have EM64T. On mobile chips, Intel added 64-bit capability to Core 2 Mobile based chips, including the Celeron M 500 series and "Pentum Dual Core Mobile" T2300 series chips. If you have the original Core Duo or Core Solo or earlier chips you do not have the ability to run 64-bit OSs or software.

If you don't want to go through looking up all that, get CPU-Z from www.cpuid.com and check to see if your CPU supports x86-64/AMD64/EM64T.

The differences are that x86-64 is an extention to the normally 32-bit instruction set of the CPU. It allows programs to access and manipulate data twice as wide from the standard instruction set, adds a few extra registers to hold temporary values and also allows support for much more memory. For most general software the difference isn't huge. For applications that can use a lot more memory or benefit from performing operations on 64-bit chunks of data at a time, the speed up can be significant.
 
For the average user, the major difference between 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems is how much memory each can use. A 32-bit OS is limited to 4 GB of RAM (including graphics card RAM and other things that need address space).

A 64-bit OS can obviously also use new 64-bit applications, which should run faster.
 
so 64-bits are use more for servers then it is for average joes like us right? awesome thanks guys now i understand the difference between 64-bits and 32-bits windows verison :D
 
Programs with a 64bit version/support should run better on a 64bit system than a 32bit version. Granted this hasn't been put into practice much but we are starting to see it more. Crysis is a good example.
 
acee said:
so 64-bits are use more for servers then it is for average joes like us right? awesome thanks guys now i understand the difference between 64-bits and 32-bits windows verison :D
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I actually recommend that average users run 64-bit Vista if they can. It's more secure, and driver support is almost as good as 32-bit Vista anyway.

If you're still interested, Microsoft will actually send you the 64-bit version of Vista for the cost of shipping if you own the retail version of Home Basic/Premium or Business. Look at the bottom of this page: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx
 
awesome thanks for the website. I just ordered one for $13 shipped to my house. Good deal for a 64-bit business verison :D

now is it possible to upgrade from vista 32bit to 64 bits?? Or do i need to do a clean install?

also last question: I believe my PC specs are compatible with 64 bit right? I'm currently on my laptop in lecture so I cant check whether I can do it or not.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
For the average user, the major difference between 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems is how much memory each can use. A 32-bit OS is limited to 4 GB of RAM (including graphics card RAM and other things that need address space).

A 64-bit OS can obviously also use new 64-bit applications, which should run faster.
Click to expand...

slight miss-conception, 32bit OS isn't limited to 4GB or RAM (VRAM + main RAM) it is limited to 2^32 unique addresses its just RAM (and then VRAM) are the biggest users

most of the hardware within a PC will be memory-mapped to the CPU so the CPU just has to write to a memory location to write to say... the HD or to the... network card

if you had a million network cards then that would reduce the amount of RAM you end up with

if 64bit OS's become the dominant OS hopefully dev's start writing code that uses mmaps, since it is alot more efficient/fast

it is quicker to open a mmap stream and memcpy to said stream then to write to a file
 
acee said:
awesome thanks for the website. I just ordered one for $13 shipped to my house. Good deal for a 64-bit business verison :D

now is it possible to upgrade from vista 32bit to 64 bits?? Or do i need to do a clean install?

also last question: I believe my PC specs are compatible with 64 bit right? I'm currently on my laptop in lecture so I cant check whether I can do it or not.
Click to expand...

fresh install, no in-place 32-64 upgrade and yr Main PC (if it is the core2 one E6600) is a 64bit-capable CPU
 
Yes, you'll have to do a clean install.

eeyrjmr said:
slight miss-conception, 32bit OS isn't limited to 4GB or RAM (VRAM + main RAM) it is limited to 2^32 unique addresses its just RAM (and then VRAM) are the biggest users
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. Just trying to keep it simple. :)
 
i'm not using the 64bit on my laptop. It's going on my PC and I just checked it out on the intel site and its available for 64-bit

E6600 65 nm 4MB L2 2.40 GHz 1066 MHz Approved.
 
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