Win 7

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Thought you could advise me on this problem. I have ordered the 8gb ram mem and reading through the win 7 notes 32bit will operate 8gb but inter-changing between programs might not be so efficiant.

 

That is not a big deal but I decided to have a look at changing to 64bit and it appears I might have a stumbling block, it is a new installation rather than an upgrade and wipes all files out for a clean start.

 

I am currently running Home & Business ver., if I was to purchase the Win Ultimate upgrade and install the 64bit version would it do the same?

 

I have search around but to date have not been able to find an answer to that question.

 

Best regards Ken

[Newt]

First you need to know if your PC can run a 64 bit operating system or not. It will depend on what CPU (central processing unit) you have.

 

Start > Run > msinfo32.exe

 

Under System Summary, look for System Type, it will show either X86 which cannot support 64-bit, or X64 which can.

 

If you don't have the run option, put msinfo32.exe into the "search programs and files" block you get when you click the microsoft globe at the left side of your task bar then click msinfo32 when the system finds it for you.

[kirisute]

Thought you could advise me on this problem. I have ordered the 8gb ram mem and reading through the win 7 notes 32bit will operate 8gb but inter-changing between programs might not be so efficiant.

 

That is not a big deal but I decided to have a look at changing to 64bit and it appears I might have a stumbling block, it is a new installation rather than an upgrade and wipes all files out for a clean start.

 

I am currently running Home & Business ver., if I was to purchase the Win Ultimate upgrade and install the 64bit version would it do the same?

 

I have search around but to date have not been able to find an answer to that question.

 

Best regards Ken

 

nope it wouldnt.

you cant upgrade from a 32 bit system to a 64 bit system at all.

it has to start as a clean install.

a 32 bit system is always limted as to how much memory it will see..maximum is 4 gig..which in real terms is usually 3.2 gig because of windows etc using memory to run itself etc

on top of Newts check to see if you have a 64 bit cpu/system you also need to check with your motherboard manufacturer as to whether it will actually be able to see an 8 gig chip, or even handle 8 gig in memory at all.

alot of cheaper/OEm boards will only handle 4 gig or at best 6. and then likely not in a single 8 gig cip.

 

your best bet would be to buy a new hard drive. install the 64 bit OS system on it. Put your old drive in the unit as a slave and then duplicate your files across. this wont however work with program files etc, some of which will install a 64 bit version whilst others wont.

only look at 64 bit OS if you are really sure you need more than 3.5 gig of ram.

in all honesty there are very few applications that will make use of it, and in general terms you wont notice much of a difference. High end 3d applications, photo editing in Photoshop CS 4 and above and a heavy amount of video editing might push your memeory requirments but other than that even most of the high end games these days rarely require more than 4 gig of ram.

[Steve Walker]

Under System Summary, look for System Type, it will show either X86 which cannot support 64-bit, or X64 which can.

 

Hmm, that might be an Intel thing, this PC is running 32 bit Windows on an early AMD 64 bit processor and it reports "X86 based PC".

[Newt]

Awk!! Good to know since I thought that utility offered accurate info.

[kirisute]

Awk!! Good to know since I thought that utility offered accurate info.

 

always thought system type referred to the OS kernel..not the cpu.

windows 7 shows 64 bit operating system, or 32 bit operating system rather than CPU info for "system type"

cpu info is listed above and makes no reference to whether the cpu is 64 bit complient at all.

 

regardless; first mainstream 64 bit cpu's hit general markets round about 2004. with AMD first off the bat with their AMD64 range before Intel stepped up the plate.

chances are if your PC is 2006 or newer then your cpu will almost certainly be 64 bit compatible.

[Chris Goddard]

Easy, stick in the disk and if it says you need a "64 bit operating system to run this OS" then you know you have a 32 bit system!! I bought what was Supposed to be a 64 bit system which seems the guy was using the same as Newt and it was not in fact a 64 bit system so I could not install the 64 bit OS. And it will not change anything to find out!