32 bit or 64 bit

[aravind]

For those saying "Phew! Not another one!", I did search the forums and came across quite a few threads dealing with this topic. But I was not able to find answers to my specific questions. All I could find was people beating around the '32-bit OS can't handle more than 4GB of RAM' bush.

My specific questions are,

1. On similarly specced hardware, will a 64-bit OS consume more resources than its 32-bit equivalent?

2. On a system with 2 GB of RAM (within the limits of what a 32-bit OS can handle), will there be any difference at all between the 2 operating systems? (Will the 64-bit OS operate faster than the 32-bit OS?)

Please be very specific about the answers. Simple yes/no answers are the best. Any link to a good article explaining the topic well from a layman's perspective would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Zangetsu]

2. On a system with 2 GB of RAM (within the limits of what a 32-bit OS can handle), will there be any difference at all between the 2 operating systems? (Will the 64-bit OS operate faster than the 32-bit OS?)

yes 64 bit is faster than 32bit OS.
RAM limite is 3.5GB for 32bit OS

 

[thetechfreak]

A good read that I found that will help-

32 bit vs 64 bit Comparison - Windows 7 Forums

another link

 

[Desmond]

1. On similarly specced hardware, will a 64-bit OS consume more resources than its 32-bit equivalent?

Nope. How much resources it consumes depends on what you are running or is running in the background.

2. On a system with 2 GB of RAM (within the limits of what a 32-bit OS can handle), will there be any difference at all between the 2 operating systems? (Will the 64-bit OS operate faster than the 32-bit OS?)

I don't know about the faster operation, but I can say for certain that it will function without any problems. A 64bit OS means one that can run a 64bit processor. And a 64bit processor is one that can address memories upto 2^64 bits = appx 2147483648 GB (Of course, you are limited by your hardware). A 64bit processor also has extra instructions in order to handle larger data types and different addressing modes to effectively utilize/manage larger memory.

A 32 bit OS installed on a 64 bit processor can only make use of a minimum number of instructions which are common to 32bit processors and not all the instructions that the 64bit processor is capable of. Therefore, in order to make use of all those instructions, a 64bit OS must be installed on it.

 

[clmlbx]

1. On similarly specced hardware, will a 64-bit OS consume more resources than its 32-bit equivalent?

no, Consumption of resources totally depends on Application you are using..

2. On a system with 2 GB of RAM (within the limits of what a 32-bit OS can handle), will there be any difference at all between the 2 operating systems? (Will the 64-bit OS operate faster than the 32-bit OS?)

Yes, their will be difference if application is 64 bit, else not, If you don't know then FYI 32 bit apps can be run on 64 bit but not vice versa. Even on day to day task you won't even notice any difference, you may notice difference when you say convert videos from one format to another, or some other heavy usage like rendering,, but first application needs to be 64 Bit

 

[aravind]

@Zangetsu, thetechfreak, DeSmOnD dAvId & clmlbx: Thanks a lot for your time and replies, guys.

@thetechfreak: The links were very nice. Thanks, mate.

 

[Desmond]

No probs
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Champ]

1 : No
2 : No

If u are not intending to use more than 3 GB ram just get a 32 bit OS,
You will save some time in tasks like hunting for drivers etc.
Some old apps dont run on 64 bit OS at all(Although this list is getting shorter day by day)

 

[cray.x]

hey guys can anybody give me any suggestion on running 32 bit applications on 64 bit window?

 

[skeletor]

Just install them. They will run completely fine. You don't need to do anything.

amd64 architecture used by Intel is backward compatible with 32-bit.

Closing this thread. Already answered 10000 times in 10000 threads.