Ultimate vs home premium, 64-bit vs 32-bit

[mxp12]

Hey guys,
I have a c2q pc with 4gb of ram. I would just like to know if I would benefit from a 64-bit OS as I have heard that 32-bit OS utilize only about 3.5gb. Also I would like to know if windows home premium would be good enough vs ultimate since I do not belong to any network. Thanks in advance

 

[The_Prophecy]

Paul Thurrott has drawn up a chart of the features in each edition of Windows 7. Take a look and see which one suits your needs best.

Regarding the ram question with 32 bit operating systems...

32 bit operating systems can address up to 4GB of ram. 64 bit is the way to go if you have a cpu that supports it, as this allows for a higher limit of memory expansion (regardless of whether one single program will use all 4 or 8, or 12GB at once by itself). There is absolutely no need to stick with 32 bit versions of Windows unless you are installing Windows on a computer with a processor that does not support 64 bit host operating systems.

 

[mxp12]

Thanks a lot. I guess I'll go for home premium since I basically just surf and game on my pc. I'm wondering though, any of you heard about windows tiny 7? It's a modded version of windows 7 thats stripped down so it would fit into an ordinary cd but its only available in 32-bit. Think its any good? thanks again

 

[The_Prophecy]

I don't trust any modded versions of Windows, no matter how trustworthy they appear to be. DVD burners and disks a dirt cheap now. Rip your Retail Windows 7 DVD directly if you want or need to burn a backup copy.

 

[theshallot]

What do you mean there is NO reason to get Win7 32bit?????

There are MANY programs that wont run with 64bit version AND there arent drivers for many legacy (hardware older than 2 years) components.

I dont see anyone wanting to get involved with these problems especially a gamer!!!!

 

[The_Prophecy]

I'm sorry, but legacy hardware in the case of Windows 7 is not 2 years or old. Try closer to 5 years. And if there are no Windows 7 specific drivers available, the Vista drivers usually provide sufficient functionality. If the manufacturer is no longer supporting the device, it's time to upgrade anyway. You also left out the part about how gamers don't generally have to worry about "legacy hardware".

I haven't seen any applications that simply refuse to run in a 64 bit environment in about 6 months. The only apps that won't run under 7 anyway (32 or 64 bit), are any 16 bit programs, as support for 16 bit code has been dropped.

 

[theshallot]

I'm sorry, but legacy hardware in the case of Windows 7 is not 2 years or old. Try closer to 5 years. And if there are no Windows 7 specific drivers available, the Vista drivers usually provide sufficient functionality. If the manufacturer is no longer supporting the device, it's time to upgrade anyway. You also left out the part about how gamers don't generally have to worry about "legacy hardware".

I haven't seen any applications that simply refuse to run in a 64 bit environment in about 6 months. The only apps that won't run under 7 anyway (32 or 64 bit), are any 16 bit programs, as support for 16 bit code has been dropped.

Are you saying that I can replace my harddrive in my 2 year old gaming rig, replace it with a new hard drive and then load Win7 on there and boom badda bang, its going to be fine with all the drivers that are needed on my ASUS board?????

 

[The_Prophecy]

That depends entirely on the hardware in your 2 year old gaming rig. Generally, yes you will be able to find working drivers for 2 year old hardware. In rare cases, you may need to do some more digging (more than simply going to the manufacturer's website) to come up with what you need.

Note that I am still not saying you will be able to find Windows 7 specific drivers for that 2 year old hardware. I stress that Windows Vista drivers will suffice in most cases where 7 drivers are not available.

 

[sminlal]

I've installed Windows 7 on systems that were 5, 6 and 8 years old, respectively, and it had absolutely no problems with them. The only issue I had was that there was no video driver available for the 8-year-old system and so the video ran at the default XGA resolution.

I also have a 5-year-old Epson scanner (Photo Perfection 2400) whose 64-bit Vista drivers work perfectly with Windows 7. And my HP Laserjet 2300 printer worked right out of the box with all the features I was used to under XP.

It's less hassle to use Windows 7 on a system that was released years before it than it is to use XP on a system that was released years after it. Windows 7 knows about old stuff and new stuff, but there's a lot of new stuff that for XP requires extra drivers to be loaded during the install procedure.

 

[mxp12]

Thanks a lot for your input guys. I guess its time to upgrade my beta version of win7. I'm leaning towards the 64-bit version of win 7 home premium.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Thanks a lot for your input guys. I guess its time to upgrade my beta version of win7. I'm leaning towards the 64-bit version of win 7 home premium.

Good choice. Always love it when people actively decide to go to 64 bit Windows.

 

[mxp12]

Best answer selected by mxp12.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

plus 10 for prophecy hes right on the money!