Friday, August 21, 2015

Windows 7 64-bit - More compatibile with 32-bit apps than previous Windows?




I'm thinking of updating my system to an x64 one. I've previously heard that this is far more trouble than it's worth (unless you're running lots of x64 optimized software) as you would have lots of issues with drivers and x86 apps, etc.



Since then, however, I've heard that Windows 7 x64 is much more compatible with x86 than previous versions of Windows, and so I was wondering: Is there was any truth to this rumour?



Should I stick with x86 (as I play a lot of games, including older ones) or should I go for Windows 7 x64 because it doesn't matter any more? Please note, I also have 4GB of RAM.


Answer



Compatibility depends a lot on the particular program.



It can be hit or miss sometimes, to be honest. Many x86 programs will work on a x64 operating system with no problems. 64-bit programs are more optimized for x64 than 32-bit are, but many will still work.




If you play a lot of x86 games and such, and you want to keep them and be sure that they work, stick with x86, as you won't have any problems and won't have to worry as much about compatibility issues, etc.



The only reason you would really want to upgrade to x64 is to utilize more than 3GB of RAM on your system.


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