I've heard several times now that W10 is supposed to be the "last" windows. I am just wondering why there is still a 32bit version?? Besides mobile, I can't remember the last time I've seen a new laptop with less than 4gb of ram. It would seem the W10 would have been the opportune time to push to eliminate 32bit versions. What am I missing?
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[Stupid Question] Why does 32bit Windows 10 exist?
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bigdogchris
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Yes, it exist.
I'm running 32 bit Win 10 on two older machines that are a bit laggy with 64 bit.
I'm running 32 bit Win 10 on two older machines that are a bit laggy with 64 bit.
I'm guessing that they are Pentium IV based machines?
heatlesssun
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In the last two years there's been a substantial surge in cheap Windows devices that have been possible due to free Windows 8.1 with Bing coupled with really cheap low end hardware to compete with cheap Android tablets and Chromebooks. The cheapest PC I've ever purchased was the HP Stream 7, $97 and change, 1 GB RAM and 32 GB eMMC storage last Novemeber. Many picked it up for much less. There are many other such devices out there, with more to come, that simply aren't suited for a 64 bit OS. The recommended minimum for x86 Windows 10 is substantially lower than x64, 1 GB vs 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB vs 32 GB of storage.
bigdogchris
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No, but one is a late XP/early Vista era machine and the other mid Vista era. One is a AMD Turion dual core and the other is an older AMD quad core. But each system only has 2GB of ram.
B00nie
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Don't you have like a handful of old DDR/DDR2 ram sticks from past builds in your hands? I just built a linux box from recycling materials I found in the drawers. Phenom CPU, 8Gib ram, Nvidia 8800GS, 2Tb worth of drives...
Simple. Windows 10 is not made only for 2014 or later machines. Windows 10 is made to be upgradable on older hardware including those with 4GB or less RAM. Hope that answers your question. But I see your point.
It exists for many reasons. 1) To get it out onto as many platforms as possible (check your Windows based tablet, it is 32bit, usually.) 2) To get as many upgrades from older OS as possible. 3) To compete with Chromebooks. (There are versions of Windows laptops which now compete in the less than $250 range once owned by Chromebooks.)
Note: Win 10 32 bit will run on PC/tablets with Less Than 2gb ram. Making them cheaper to build. Win 10 64 bit requires 2gb to run...
Note: Win 10 32 bit will run on PC/tablets with Less Than 2gb ram. Making them cheaper to build. Win 10 64 bit requires 2gb to run...
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GotNoRice
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It's a real shame, on many older systems, when it comes to Windows 10 upgrades I am more limited by lack of NX-bit support than anything.
I have a number of Pentium M based laptops which run Windows 7 great and I would love to upgrade them to 10. But no NX-bit
I have an older Dual Xeon computer, running Gallatin core xeons that does great in Windows 7. It also has no NX-bit, so no windows 10
I have a number of Pentium M based laptops which run Windows 7 great and I would love to upgrade them to 10. But no NX-bit
I have an older Dual Xeon computer, running Gallatin core xeons that does great in Windows 7. It also has no NX-bit, so no windows 10
bigdogchris
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The solution to x64 performance is not always just more ram. 32 bit is just simpler on older, slower machines that I am not always able to look out for.
B00nie
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The poster mentioned ram specifically thats why I asked.
Tsumi
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Well, the poster was asking a generic question about the existence of 32 bit Windows and made the invalid assumption that RAM was the only determinant in what version is used.
Tawnos
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During the timeframe of win7 development, a common mantra was "if it can run Vista, it should be able to run Win7". Moving forward to win8 dev, that same thought was applied as "if it can run Win7, it should be able to run Win8", which effectively meant even vista-era systems should still be able to run the platform.
There are a number of reasons 32 bit is still supported, some mentioned in this thread. One reason is that even as recently as a few years ago, Intel was releasing new 32-bit only devices (Atom). Another is that not all 64 bit processors support the required CMPXCHG16b, nor the NX bits.
The security benefits of 64 bit (e.g. large ASLR space) mean we'd love to have people running on 64-bit, but that's still not 100% possible across the board.
There are a number of reasons 32 bit is still supported, some mentioned in this thread. One reason is that even as recently as a few years ago, Intel was releasing new 32-bit only devices (Atom). Another is that not all 64 bit processors support the required CMPXCHG16b, nor the NX bits.
The security benefits of 64 bit (e.g. large ASLR space) mean we'd love to have people running on 64-bit, but that's still not 100% possible across the board.
Some of the early dual core AMD parts are not 64 bit compliant. You couldnt put 7 on them, either...
FlawleZ
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Like said above, many reasons why. Main 2 reasons are software compatibility and hardware compatibility.
Windows 7 went on just fine as well as a few different 64 bit versions of Linux.
MS decided to stop working around the lack of CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF instructions starting with the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1. Windows 10 x64 has the same requirements.
There are many processors without those instructions, including older stepping Prescott P4 models, and several old Athlon 64/X2 processors.
But yeah, XP 64-bit, Vista 64-bit, 7 64-bit and 8 64-bit should all install fine even on those older x86-64 processors.
I installed w10 x64 on an Athlon x2 4600+ 89W Windsor.
Brisbane and Windsor support all the required 64-bit instructions for 8.1/10 64-bit, but the older Manchester core 64/X2 models don't.