Windows 7 64 Bit or 32 Bit

thereddragon wrote on 9/8/2009, 1:19 PM
I have the choice of which one I wish to install. Id like some feedback from you guys as to which one I should choose or if It really makes any difference whatsoever with Sony Vegas. Here are my system specs.

4GB which is what I have is the max for my system


Processor AMD Phenom(tm) 9500 Quad-Core Processor


Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Gaming graphics 1471 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 270GB Free (455GB Total)
Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium

System
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Manufacturer Gateway
Model GT5674
Total amount of system memory 4.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 4
64-bit capable Yes

Storage
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Total size of hard disk(s) 619 GB
Disk partition (C:) 270 GB Free (455 GB Total)
Disk partition (D:) 5 GB Free (11 GB Total)
Media drive (E:) CD/DVD
Disk partition (J:) 147 GB Free (153 GB Total)

Graphics
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Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Total available graphics memory 1471 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 128 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 1343 MB
Display adapter driver version 7.15.11.7813
Primary monitor resolution 1024x768
DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better

Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network Adapter NVIDIA nForce 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
Network Adapter Microsoft Tun Miniport Adapter

Comments

othersteve wrote on 9/8/2009, 1:40 PM
Absolutely go with 64-bit, especially with Windows 7. The available memory space for applications (including Sony Vegas) is considerably larger therein, and it'll also allow for greater expansion later on if you decide to add more RAM.

Steve
thereddragon wrote on 9/8/2009, 1:41 PM
Id love to add more ram but as I said - 4GB is the max my motherboard can hold according to the specs
othersteve wrote on 9/8/2009, 2:37 PM
It doesn't matter even if you keep your RAM at 4 GB; for one thing, 32-bit Windows can only access 3.5 GB of that 4 you have installed. Beyond that, there are other limits as well. Check out this page if you're interested:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28VS.85%29.aspx

The bottom line is that if you can go x64 these days, in nearly all situations, you ought to. The operating systems have been streamlined such that most x64 system never have a problem running anything 32-bit anymore anyway, so there's not much of a downside in any respect.

Steve
hazydave wrote on 9/14/2009, 11:11 AM
The main reason to avoid 64-bit versions of Windows has been driver support. This was a huge problem in XP, since few vendors wrote 64-bit drivers.

Microsoft kind of forced the issue with Vista... they changed the driver model so many XP drivers had to be re-written, and they mandated 64-bit support. I have 64-bit Vista on a laptop, and it has only rarely been a problem. My desktop is currently XP 32-bit. Both will get the Windows 7 64-bit upgrade this fall... laptop first... it's hard to imagine Win7 not being better than Vista at just about everything, given MS's failure in the market with Vista.

As for memory.. in a 32-bit OS, the most virtual or real memory an application can touch is 2GB, no matter whether you have 256K or 4GB installed. A properly written 32-bit application can address 3GB of memory in 64-bit Windows, if you enable that option on boot up. 64-bit applications can hit something like 2TB or more of virtual memory.

Since Vegas is now a real 64-bit application (the Adobe people are still waiting ... ha!), there's a real advantage to running on a 64-bit system, even if you only have 4GB of memory... Vegas could actually use 4GB of memory, twice of what it can use in 32-bit mode. If it really needs that much, some will be virtual, but that's still better than needed it and not getting it.

Some other advantages come from 64-bit coding... more CPU registers, better FPU model, etc... how much of that actually makes a difference, well, we'll have to leave to benchmarks.