• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

What to install 32bit or 64bits?

S

syuri

n00b
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
27
Guys,
I got older Dell notebook, e1705, with 4gb of memory installed. Iwant to install Windows 7 on it but puzzled over dilemma, which edition (32 or 64)?
If I install 32bits, the OS will see only 3.2gb out of 4gb.
In case of 64bits, it will use whole installed memory, but probably has additional overhead due to longer pointers and running 32 bit subsystem for some programs.
What do you think, which one will be most effective and why?
 
If your machine has a Core Duo or older Pentium (T2xxx series), install 32-bit, since the CPU doesn't support 64-bit. If your machine has a Core 2 Duo, install 64-bit. On my old E1505 Inspiron it sees 3.2GB of RAM in 32 bit. I always install 64-bit on every machine I run across that has a supported CPU, unless there's some old app or device that has no 64-bit drivers.
 
Last edited:
Agreed, if you have a 64-bit CPU, install 64-bit windows.

The only situation where I might consider 32-bit is if the system has 1GB memory or less. But at that point you'd be better off just upgrading your memory. Even my older 64-bit P4 systems are running 64-bit windows now.
 
I don't think it's as easy as that. A lot of older systems are a serious PITA to find 64-bit drivers. If there are Vista 64-bit drivers then it shouldn't be too hard, otherwise it might prove to be a lot of searching and frustration.

edit: Looks like you're in luck. http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19 My vote goes for trying 64-bit out first.
 
Last edited:
It has 4 GB of ram so I would go with 64 bit. If you have under 2 GB I typically recommend 32 bit because 64 does use slightly more memory.

If the CPU is not compatible with 64 bit then I suppose it doesn't matter and 32 will be your only option. As for driver support, that is an older device and Windows 7 has a very good selection of integrated drivers. I would expect most things would work out of the box.
 
Guys,

thank you for your advises. I did some research and decided to go with 32bits. Why? Read on.
E1705 has 64bits capable CPU, but supporting chipset 945GM has 32bit memory controller. It means there is no hardware support to address > 4GB memory. The notebook will run Windows 7 64bit no probelm, but the OS will not see more then 3.2GB anyway. Since 64bit version will use little bit more memory, there is no reason to use it over 32bit.
 
all that driver stuff has been resolved with W7. Use 64 bit if the cpu supports it. it is a no-brainer on multiple levels.
 
Since you don't mention which CPU you have, this is not really a useful thread until the 6th post unless you're intimately familiar with the E1705/9400.

The 945GM memory controller in the E1705/9400 is 32-bit, yes.

I have attempted to install a 64-bit OS on this machine myself and I do not recall having success due to the MC, even with a Core2 Duo T7200 CPU which obviously does support 64-bit.
 
shoota said:
I don't think it's as easy as that. A lot of older systems are a serious PITA to find 64-bit drivers.
Click to expand...

That shouldn't be much of an issue if you get drivers from the source. Drivers on the manufacturer website (dell, HP, etc) are often outdated or "customized" driver versions that offer nothing over reference drivers.

If it's an Intel chipset, download the chipset drivers from Intel.
If it's realtek audio, download the audio driver from realtek.
If it's broadcom networking, download the driver from broadcom.
etc

Hell, these days even windows update will find half your drivers for you and audio will almost always install with the generic "high definition audio" driver regardless.

syuri said:
Since 64bit version will use little bit more memory, there is no reason to use it over 32bit.
Click to expand...

The 64-bit version will let you run 64-bit apps, you know, the ones that will actually be relevant in the coming years.

I still would have tried 64-bit on that computer. If it can't support it, you will find out rather quickly, so there would be no reason to at least not try. The amount of "extra" memory that 64-bit uses over 32-bit is trivial and overstated.

It's 2012 and any computer not running 64-bit, quite frankly, is ready for the garbage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top