32 bit vs 64 bit OS - Modern Warfare 2 Forum: Free Call of Duty MW2 Community

**Voodoo** · 03-05-2010, 08:17 PM

curious as to the benefits and disadvantages of both. I've never really understood.

Nibbles · 03-05-2010, 10:00 PM

Depends how technical you want to get

Memory is the biggest deal as 32 bits will only let you address up to 4GB at a time (and depending on your machine and OS, you probably wont even be able to access more than 3.5GB.
4GB aint much these days. You can obviously access more than this but it has to be mapped in and out of RAM which is inefficient. 64 bits will allow enormous amounts of addressable space.

If you have 8GB installed in a 32 bit OS, you have wasted RAM that is inaccessible.

Properly coded applications written specifically for 64 bit processors will also run faster than a 32 bit equivalent. On the downside, 64 bit architectures require more space to represent exactly the same thing that could be represented in a 32 bit system. While space isnt as much of an issue with 64 bit addressable space, this can lead to several efficiency problems but I believe there are simple workarounds in place..

BTW, anyone who wants to know just how large 64 bit address space is, this article is kinda fun: http://cnx.org/content/m13082/latest/

**Voodoo** · 03-06-2010, 12:35 AM

so with 4 gb ram, if I were to purchase windows 7 from Long John Silver I should look to get 32?

Nibbles · 03-06-2010, 01:17 AM

Windows specifically, I can't comment as I haven't used anything newer than XP in the Microsoft world. Not sure if there are compatibility issues there... There certainly arent on OSX but that wont help you. Its probably safest to go 32 but you dont really have much to lose with Mr Silver looking out for you

Im sure someone else here could give you a more informed answer though.

**Voodoo** · 03-06-2010, 01:34 AM

I shall wait for abc. he is all the rage with this computing bizness

Olaf Vikingsson · 03-06-2010, 01:55 AM

There's no reason whatsoever to get a 32-bit OS these days, especially with 4gb of RAM. A total of 3.5gb addressable memory includes graphical memory, leaving you with around a whole quarter of your RAM unused.

**Voodoo** · 03-06-2010, 02:29 AM

My graphics card is 1 gb so that is something to consider, thankyou vis.

Nibbles · 03-06-2010, 02:34 AM

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why a 32 bit Windows 7 even exists? Just to maintain backwards compatibility with old hardware or is there something else?