Q6600 - 32 bit or 64 bit OS

[Guest]

First of all, let me apologize for asking something that probably seems very dumb to most of you guys, but after reading and reading, I seem to have confused myself even more than I was to begin with.

I currently have a Q6600 quad core running XP 32 bit, with 4gb RAM. I know wxp will only see 3.2gb but thats not my concern. My questions are:

1) Will XP be able to see and use all four cores? From my understanding I believe that XP can see all 4 cores and would use them when multitasking....is this correct?

2) I have heard that games such as Crysis use all four cores when running. For this to happen do I need to be running a 64 bit OS or will 32 bit do this too?

3) If a 32 bit OS will do this just fine then, what are the real advantages to running a 64 bit OS?

Thanks in advance

Baz

 

[Godiwa]

WinXP should be fine with 4 cores, WinXP is fine with max 4GB ram (32bit) 4+GB ram (64bit)

32 vs 64 doesn't mean anything on the number of cores, not all support multi cpus though which is a different thing then multiple cores (a licensing question) but for most homeusers WinXP and Vista supports 2 CPU's with multiple cores.

So you will be fine.

 

[zenmaster]

I would stick with 32-bit, you will not gain much from going 64-bit.

Now, if you wanted to upgrade to 8gb of RAM while going 64-bit, then it would make sense.

I run 64-bit on my 8gb systems and 32-bit on my 4gb systems.

 

[Guest]

So will Crysis make use of all four cores running 32 bit?

 

[huron]

+1 Godiwa - I was going to point out it's not the processor that is hampered by 32/64 bit OS, but the amount of usable memory (RAM).

32 vs 64 bit OS has little to do with core optimization.

That all depends on how the programmers wrote the code - if they wrote it for 4 cores, then yes, but very few programs, let alone games, write code to utilize all 4 cores. More are starting to go that way, but many apps are just single or dual threaded.

So Crysis will use the number of cores it was written to use.

 

[Guest]

Regardless of OS? Even on 32 bit?

 

[TwoDigital]

As mentioned, 32-bit vs. 64-bit has nothing to do with whether XP will see all four cores. Under both versions, you'll have a single 4-core processor available. Whether games (or whatever you are running) uses all four would be a different issue, but they are definitely all going to be available if the software wants to use them.

 

[Guest]

Ok cheers for the input guys!

 

[mythor20]

I just upgraded fro a p4 640 3.2 cpu to Q6600 and Crysis is now playable on almost all settings on high. I used to think I was a useless gamer till now.

I didn't realise how much of a difference the upgrade would make.

XP 32bit is definitely accessing 3GB of RAM and the page file on HDD.