32 bit or 64 bit

Hey Folks.

Looking forward to the game. I bought a new PC in anticipation and I only got 32 bit windows so I can only get the free WIN7 upgrade to 32bit.

Will this make much difference to the speed of FM? Should I bite the bullet and just pay for a BRAND NEW 64 bit version of windows? Dell saying I can't upgrade. Even though I bought the PC a week ago and there was no difference in price.

Will be any major difference?

Thanks in advance tech heads.

Do you have 4 gb's of ram? Do you have a 64bit CPU?

If you said yes to both of my questions then 64bit would be a wise choice.

But dont re-buy it, its to expensive.

Stick with 32bit, 64 will make little difference and is more likely to throw up compatability issues with older programs.

Stick with 32bit, 64 will make little difference and is more likely to throw up compatability issues with older programs.

Compatability issues is pretty much long gone now.

But yeah.. stick with 32bit.

You cannot run 64 bit windows on a PC that runs 32 bit windows.

You need to have an operating system that can handle 64 bit - you MIGHT be able to upgrade your motherboard bits etc, but it's not cheap and it may not work at all, due to compatability issues.

If you REALLY want 64 bit, which in theory should be twice the speed, you're better off spending a decent amount (£1k) on a high spec NEW PC.

I have a Dell which runs 32 bit and has 1 TG of hard disk space, 4 gig of ram and quad core processer - this is absolutely ample for FM and many other things at the same time - this cost me £620.

And it's got a blu-ray drive and a 23" Widescreen HD monitor.

Dell Studio - check them out. Dell have always been great for me.

Who already owns a 32 bit system can use it with no handicap.

Who is going to buy a new system the wise choice is 64 bit HW and OS for sure.

You cannot run 64 bit windows on a PC that runs 32 bit windows.

That's wrong. A 64-bit processor (basically all desktop processors nowadays) will happily run 32-bit windows. Provided you have a 64-bit processor in your machine, and don't rely on any seriously old bits of hardware or software, you will be fine installing 64-bit windows. If you are intending to use 4gb of memory or higher then you will have to use 64-bit windows anyway.

Currently on 32 bit but looked on the upgrade thing on vista and my laptop can run 64 and have 4gb ram so gonna install the the 64 when W7 arrives

That's wrong. A 64-bit processor (basically all desktop processors nowadays) will happily run 32-bit windows. Provided you have a 64-bit processor in your machine, and don't rely on any seriously old bits of hardware or software, you will be fine installing 64-bit windows. If you are intending to use 4gb of memory or higher then you will have to use 64-bit windows anyway.

You are right, what I meant was what you said, you have to be sure your PC can run 64 bit, i.e it has to have a 64 bit processor or it wont work

If you get the 32 bit version free then just get that.

And I think if you buy Win7 on its own it comes with 32 and 64 bit. I'm gonna reinstall in 64 bit when Win7 comes out though and get a bit more ram.

A few more tips are that pretty much all modern mobos and CPUs support 64 bit, so not much point worrying about the hardware side of things as brought up earlier in the thread, and that the memory on your video card counts towards the 32bit ram limit.