Is a 64 bit system really a big deal?
 

My womans computer is 64 bit.. and it doesn't seem like a big deal.. It's a core2duo 3.0 w/ 4gb of memory 64 bit vista.. made by dell .. my old system was a core2quad (the 8300) with 4gb of ocz titanium (or whichever one has the really good timing) and I ran 32 bit xp

I think my system was faster even in 2 core mode

Now I have an Athlon X2 64 6000+ system with 2gb of DDR (it is about five years old)
I got it for $60 w/ a flat 20" monitor that I sold for $100 so this was essentially free

But I always have 20+ tabs open and I let her leave her browser open with 10+ tabs in it and now I'm trying to do some things on here and I have to have something better ..

Would this system run a lot faster with a 64 bit os? I kind of doubt it. If I build one, should I go for 64 bit components, or say fuck it since most of what I run is 32 bit anyway? Are 32 bit apps slower on 64 bit systems?

I think that a newer architecture 32 bit intel cpu would be my best bet. This may be 64 bit but it's old as piss and uses older slower DDR.

running your 32 bit OS means you are only able to use a maximum of 3gb of your ram, whereas you can use as much as you like with 64bit (upto 192gb i think). that's the major difference

64 bit archetecture is only going to benefit you with a machine with 4GB of RAM or better.

32 bit archetecture supports a maximum of 3GB of RAM.

Yeah.. I am aware of that limitation.. XP 32 always tells me I am using 3.2 when I have more than 3gb .... So that is definitely a huge advantage of 64 bit systems

And if I have a 64 bit system with a lot of memory, and run a 32 bit app, it can use up to 4gb of ram, correct?

It really depends man. 32bit apps run through a 'compatibility mode' when run on a 64bit OS, so they can actually run slower.

64bit apps are undoubtedly faster though, even with only 3-4gb of ram. Run a 64bit version of photoshop, video editing software, CAD software or anything that does rendering, compressing, exporting and there is a pretty significant increase in performance.

i cant even afford a 16 bit system... :(

Dos for life ?

What NetHorse said. With Poser8 (32bit) on a 8Mbit PC i constantly ran out of memory. After switching to PoserPro2010 (64bit) that never happened again.

By far the biggest factor here is that she's running Windows Vista.

Vista is a slow fuck-ass OS. Get rid of it and install 7 or revert back to XP. It will fly.

64 bit all the way!

Windows 7 ultimate 64bit is the way to go. I'm pleased as hell. Have core i7 with 12gb ram though.

64bits on an i7 920 tweaked at 3.4MHz and 12GB memory while encoding video, photoshop editing, illustrator open with big files, etc is a must.

Don't worry, I have ZX Spectrum 48k for you, it has 8 bit CPU :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

So all these people running a 32 bit system with 8 or 16 gigs (which i see a lot) simply wasted their money?

They wasted their money on the RAM yes.

Yep. Just switch to 64. When I bought 7 it came with both disks.

Yep works like a charm and fast.

My sales went up when I've bought 64bit sysem...

My productivity improved.

Damn, i didn't know that. I bet a lot of people don't know it actually.

This :2 cents:

You're only going to see performance gains when running 64bit software.

no one runs 32 bit systems with 8 gigs of ram since windows can only seen 3.5 gigs of it.

unless they are idiots.

i doubt you see it alot thinking more your confused somewhere no on sells 32bit systems with more then 4 gigs ram.

Because you need more than 32 bits to store the memory address for 3GB+

:1orglaugh

I've been using 64 bit for about 6 years and would never go back. I can run 24 GB(or more of RAM), and its great for my animation work. You won't see any difference just bopping around Windows doing everyday tasks. If you don't do anything that can bring a computer to its knees, then the difference will be minimal.

A good analogy would the difference between a bike(32) and a car(64). If you need to go to the next block, the bike will get you there just as fast as the car. If you need to go across town miles away, then the car will kick the bike's ass.

:thumbsup This is the way to go...have an i5 2500k and 8gb myself, need to get another 8gb though...memory is so cheap right now you might as well get as much as you can.

A 32 bit CPU is something you pull out of an "old parts" box, not something you buy. It was ten years ago, in 2001, that Linux started running 64 bit. Eight years ago, in 2001, AMD made 64 bit cheap.

With 10-20 tabs open and however many other applications, plus a couple GB just to boot Winblows, your slowness is almost surely a RAM issue. To be faster, you want more RAM. In order to use more RAM, you need an architecture from this century, a 64 bit architecture.

Somehow this reminds the of the people still installing Apache 1.3
nine years after 2.0 was released. Then they want software upgrades within their decade old version of the OS, presumably so pages load better in Windows 95 browsers.

XPS 8300 by chance? I just ordered one.

XPS 8300 Intel Core i7-2600 processor(8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHZ, 2x4GB/2x2GB
Blu-ray 8X BD-R, DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability
Dell 1520 WLAN PCIe card with11n mini-Card and internal antenna
Nvidia GeForce GTX560Ti with 1.25GB Memory
2TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM
DELL ST2420L - 24" LED Monitor
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Add 2 USB 3.0 ports

$1278.17 + tax

Its 3GB (and change 3.5 technically I believe) for 32 bit. And technically it is more then 192 for 64 bit, but the 192 is the limits of Windows.

This the the main difference. So yes. It is better in a sense to have 64 bit. 4GB of RAM is not really that much in this day and age.

Your same hardware might run a little bit better on 64bit. But it gives you the opportunity for more ram for better performance.

Something like that yea but a cheaper graphic card (still 1gb though)

core i7 960 3.2ghz socket 1366

3x4gb ddr3 ram 3-channeling.

1TB Sata drive + a 64gb SSD.

27" LG LED monitor

Your Sandy Bridge processor is a good choice, you'll love it.

How are you going to buy any new system when you can't even feed yourself? Let me guess, you're going to suck more life out of your sick woman. Parasite.

Ok dumbasses

64bit means it got twice as much registers to speak to your RAM removing the good old 4GB RAM limit from ya old 32bit precessor. For the rest its exactly the same shit.
When people say that when your piece o' shit 32bit torrent downloaded fucked up softwarez runs in compatible mode on your 64bit biatch it is slower its complete dumbass bullshit talks. It just means the program is running on the 32bit instruction set which AMD and Intel are both nice enough to still include on their processors, so you can keep running that prehistoric Photoshop 7 because ur pockets aint full enough to get ya that new CS5 you have been wanting so badly. This ain't freaking the old nintendo days where 8 bits meant shitty 5 color blocks representin bitches and toads vs 16 beats displayin hardcore ultra high sharp density 3D fucking blood splattering mortal awesome kombat.

That looks like an XPS 9100 configuration... I almost got one of those instead but they didn't offer the 2600. The tradeoff is that the 9100 has way more card slots... the 8300 only has 3 PCIe total. Not only that... but it was like $500 more than the 8300.

I am currently on an XPS 420 with a Q6600 and 8GB Ram that has run like a champ for almost 4 years... but recently, it started having problems with the SATA controller and randomly blue screens on me. It has been a good machine and more than paid for itself... but I suspect that the 2 HDDs that I had fail over the last 4 years were caused by that bad SATA controller.

Those retail rigs are nicely priced, but IMO, not adequately equipped.

The XPS 8300 with an i7-2600 and GTX-560ti runs the same 450PS and Intel supplied CPU cooler as one equipped with an i3-2100 and integrated graphics. :warning

Dell focuses on aesthetics and making their rigs quiet, when in reality a rig like that needs a 600w+ PS, better CPU cooler, more fans and a case that breaths for long-term reliability. Not run at 80c maxing out the power supply.