Jump to content
N-Europe

Should I Upgrade to 7 64bit?

Mokong

By Mokong
in General Chit Chat

 Share

Recommended Posts

Mokong Newbie

Mokong

Posted
Posted

Ok so my laptop has been stuck on Windows Vista since the day I got it with 4GB of RAM installed.

 

I know I should have upgraded to 7 ages ago but I figured if I was going to get 7 I'd want a 64 bit 7 so that I'd be able to upgrade RAM past 4GB and wasn't sure if the laptops CPU was compatible with 64bit OS's

 

Well I found out that yes it is 64bit compliant and thought, WOHOO

 

So had plans to do a clean install of 7 64bit version and buy two 4GB SODIMMs to get 8GB of RAM....then when I went to check the type of RAM the laptop took I found out the each of the 2 slots will allow take a max of 2GB in each slot :cry: :cry: :cry:

 

(Samsung R519 if your wondering... even checked Samsungs website and used teh Crucial Memory Scanner and yep, system is capped at 4GB, DAMNIT)

 

But am still considering going up to 7 as with the 32 bit Vista I have while I have 4GB installed it's actually only accessing about 3 - 3.5GB, not the full 4GB.

 

So I could go up to 7 64bit to get access to the full 4GB of RAM.

 

But am now wondering as 64bit 7's min requirment of RAM is 2GB does that mean 7 will bascially be using that 2GB most of the time, leaving me with a free 2GB for what ever I'm running/doing?

 

If I apply that thinking to my 32bit Vista, it's min requirment is 1GB, so if only 3.5GB of RAM is becing access and that 1st GB is being used by Vista that is leaving me with 2GB - 2.5GB of RAM for my applications?

 

So am I right in my assumption there of how much ram the OS's take up and that by going up to 7 64bit, even though I'd have full access to my 4GB of RAM I wouldn't actually be getting much more out of it?

 

 

(And no I can't afford a new laptop with more RAM expansion abilities if that's what your wondering)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rummy Newbie

Rummy

Posted
Posted

What's the required amount of ram for 32-bit 7? Is it still 2GB?

 

Either way, I highly recommend upgrading to 7 from Vista. Can't see how 64-bit would hurt, I reckon it doesn't matter with the RAM, but Vista is truly the worst windows I've ever used.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mokong Newbie

Mokong

Posted
  • Author
Posted
What's the required amount of ram for 32-bit 7? Is it still 2GB?

 

Either way, I highly recommend upgrading to 7 from Vista. Can't see how 64-bit would hurt, I reckon it doesn't matter with the RAM, but Vista is truly the worst windows I've ever used.

 

32bit 7 requires min 1GB of ram but like Vista will not use my full 4GB

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jimbob Rookie

Jimbob

Posted
Posted

Vista is the worst Windows i've used. End of.

 

People i give advice to on purchasing new computers with 64bit W7, i always advise them to get 4gb RAM as standard. It is more than enough to sustain your computer and allow sufficient computer usage, even as far as using graphic/video-editing software. The 64bit O/S will use 2gb RAM to run itself as standard, so the more RAM you have extra, the better the system will perform.

 

I'll need to check my computer, see if i can up the RAM higher than 4gb (which is currently has). Or even purchase a new computer for myself, mine has started having issues (it is over 6 years old now). It's quite interesting that i purchased my computer 6 years ago with Windows Vista pre-installed with factory parts built-in, with it now running Windows 7 64bit and many of the parts have been replaced with better (graphics, dual-core processor, 3.5gb extra RAM). I had an issue yesterday when the resolution changed by itself. I'm guessing it could be a graphics card issue, they have crashed a few times in recent weeks.

 

Oh well, i could just get a new base-PC instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ike Enthusiast

Ike

Posted
Posted

If you can run 64bit then go for it.

 

Windows 7 has a much better memory management then Vista so it should run better anyway. My work PC runs fine and I'm using Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Firefox and more at the same time.

 

My laptop has Vista on it and it's starting to develop problems. Was thinking about upgrading but don't really want to lose some of the pre-installed software (Would rather do a clean install rather than a upgrade). But that's fir a different topic I guess. My laptop also came with 4GB and is on 32bit which I don't quite understand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rummy Newbie

Rummy

Posted
Posted
32bit 7 requires min 1GB of ram but like Vista will not use my full 4GB

 

As mentioned by the others, at least 64 will use the extra bit that 32 does not. If it helps any, my PC runs 64-bit windows 7 and only has 3GB in it I believe? I never find I have any problems, but then again I don't know how much the rest of it matches up to yours.

 

EDIT:Actually I might be wrong on the amount I have, I'll check when I get home. Pretty sure it's only 3GB though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sméagol Newbie

Sméagol

Posted
Posted (edited)

To me the choice between 64 or 32 bit is a moot point, since there’s no difference in cost. Always go with the better option, yeah? You have access to your full 4 GB, and you can get the 64 bit (and more efficient) versions of applications when given the choice.

 

The only reason not to is if you’re dependant on software which isn’t compatible with 64-bit Windows. Companies using archaic systems for example. Never had a problem myself with such an incompatability.

 

That said, if you’ve waited all this time to upgrade, perhaps you can hold out for several months longer, and get [Windows 8]? System requirements should be similar. Especially if you haven’t run into memory problems so far, then I don’t think you’ll miss the 0,5 GB before you upgrade.

 

By the way, on my computer, Windows 7 is running a little over 2 GB. 1 GB seems to be cached, not sure what it means but I vaguely recall something about Windows reserving memory for much used applications and services. I’m using aero, and pretty much all the other performance options are checked. On the other hand, I’m not using system restore (don’t know how much that affects memory), and no virtual memory.

Edited by Sméagol
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Emasher Newbie

Emasher

Posted
Posted

Go for it, and go for the 64 bit version as others have said. While 32 bit OSs are capped at 4GB, that includes VRAM as well, so going up to a 64 bit OS, you'll be able to access the full 4GB, and unless you're doing rendering or CAD, there's very little reason to have more than 4GB at the moment aside from future proofing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mokong Newbie

Mokong

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Cheers for all the replies guys,

 

Just to note I was never considering getting 32bit 7, it was either 64 bit 7 or stay on Vista :heh:

 

When is Windows 8 expected out? And is it expected to be good... or another Vista?

 

I was trying to price full editions of 7 today, will there be any chance stores might have them reduced for Jan sales? :heh: Might hold off till the new year as I'm also looking for a new external harddrive too, see if I can get any deals :heh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sméagol Newbie

Sméagol

Posted
Posted

As far as I know there’s no exact release date for 8, but it’s slated for next year. If that means Summer or the holiday season I don’t know unfortunately. You could however download the devvers preview (on your own risk obviously). See if you like it, while keeping in mind it isn’t the final version. Perhaps that, installed besides Vista, could tide you over untill then.

 

As for deals, I don’t think you’ll see massive deals on OS software for the holidays. Again, it may pay off to wait. I can’t guarantee they’ll do it for the release of 8, but when 7 was launched they had massive pre-release deals. I bought a retail version from Amazon.uk for less than what an OEM version costs today. Then again, I believe this was a massive marketing campaign to try to make 7 a succes after the failure of Vista. So dunno if they’ll do such a campaign for 8.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mokong Newbie

Mokong

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
I went from 32 bit Vista with 3GB to 64 bit Windows 7 with 4GB and the difference is amazing. It's almost like having a new laptop. I thoroughly recommend it :)

 

cool I'll likely go for it after Xmas or in the New Year... I'll ignore 8 when it comes out till I can afford a new laptop (or desktop) ... just need to try find it at the best price... best I've seen so far is 149euro for Home Premium.... anyone know of anywhere that has it cheaper

...though as I won't be spending money on new RAM now I'm tempted to go for Ultimate just for the hell of it which I've found for 219euro :heh:

(edit: scratch that no TPM 1.2 for bitlocker no point in getting Ultimate then...sigh)

 

I'll be wanting to do a clean install though so need to plan a bit and make note of what programs I'm gonna need to redownload and find 64bit versions of (if any) and need a new external HDD for file back ups too.

 

Still annoyed though that the laptop is capped at 4gb was looking forward to 8gb as I'll be doing a fair bit of virtualisation for the Comptia A+ course I've started and the extra ram would have been handy for that... at the moment I can get 2 virtual machines open with minor slow down... if I go for a 3rd I get mega slow down that almost looks like it's frozen... and the bloody tutor wants us to try set up a virual network with 4 virtual pc's :heh:

Edited by Mokong
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MoogleViper Newbie

MoogleViper

Posted
Posted
cool I'll likely go for it after Xmas or in the New Year... I'll ignore 8 when it comes out till I can afford a new laptop (or desktop) ... just need to try find it at the best price... best I've seen so far is 149euro for Home Premium.... anyone know of anywhere that has it cheaper

...though as I won't be spending money on new RAM now I'm tempted to go for Ultimate just for the hell of it which I've found for 219euro :heh:

(edit: scratch that no TPM 1.2 for bitlocker no point in getting Ultimate

 

150 euros? Where's that?

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/259863-microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-w-sp1-licence-and-media-1-gfc-02050 ~£70. Same price on amazon as well. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004Q0PT3I/ref=asc_df_B004Q0PT3I5781842?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B004Q0PT3I

 

Professional for ~£100

 

Ultimate for ~£140

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Mokong Newbie

Mokong

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Cheers for those links Moogle,

 

I just figured out a cheaper way to get what I want though, as mentioned main reason for wanting to upgrade/get more ram/full access to my 4GB, was to help with running several virtual machines at once.

 

It hit me the other day... Linux :heh:

 

Made a partition on my HDD and installed Ubuntu 64bit into there so it is alongside my Vista.

 

Installed VMWare Player into that, made 4 virtual machines (Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7) had them all running at the same time in Ubuntu and it was all only using 20 - 25% of the physical memory, and everything runs smooth with little to no slow down :D

 

Where as my vista uses about 25 - 28% physical memory when it's just started up and once I try to run just a virtual Windows 7 that shoots to 70 - 80% with a ton of slow down :heh:

 

Think this should help me out for now with what I need to do on the course while I save money for a new laptop/desktop which likely won't be till long after Windows 8 is out :heh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...