A "Program Files (x86)" question

[Slipperss]

I just recently found out that the Program Files (x86) folder is for 32 bit programs and stuff, Steam is installed here, and within the Steam folder, is where my games lies. Does the games suffer any performance reduction from being in the Program Files (x86) folder? Because as far as I know the 32 bit can only use up to 4gb of ram or so.

Should I move Steam into the 64 bit folder?

 

[zhihao50]

no impact, which folder they are in doesn't matter, what does is that they are compiled in 32bit in the first place so there is nothing you can change to make it 64bit.

PS: 4gb ram is more then enough as 32bit software are actually restricted to 2Gb ram.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I don't have any programs or games in the ProgramFiles or Program Files (x86) folders

 

[buzznut]

I just recently found out that the Program Files (x86) folder is for 32 bit programs and stuff, Steam is installed here, and within the Steam folder, is where my games lies. Does the games suffer any performance reduction from being in the Program Files (x86) folder? Because as far as I know the 32 bit can only use up to 4gb of ram or so.

Should I move Steam into the 64 bit folder?

Well, Steam is either a 32 bit program or a 64, moving it to a new location won't have any effect on that. Games are one of those areas where devs aren't really doing 64 bit yet. No need to.
But this has nothing to do with your operating system and its ability to address more than 3.25GB of ram. All 32 bit operating systems have this limitation. If you are running a 64 bit OS, a 32 bit application will still use as much ram as you give it.
I would guess that Steam is a 32 bit application. X64 development has been slow to come around, and every time I try a 64 bit web browser I have all kinds of terrible things happen from crashing and lock ups, to just plain closing at will. So I go back to the old standard because I don't have time to deal with abrowser that isn't 100% functional.

My advice is-don't worry about 64 bit applications. If you find one that performs better than its 32 bit counterpart, go ahead and use it. And don't worry about which folder its in because the location on your hard drive won't matter to the software.

 

[zhihao50]

firefox x64 nightly are not that bad.

 

[Slipperss]

Best answer selected by Slipperss.