Pro/con of Win 7-32 vs. Win7-64 stability and compatibility

[saundja3]

Looking to do a new build, and am thinking of going with Win7-64 in terms of being forward-looking, and being able to run for 5 years without getting orphaned.

Have heard that Win7-64 is slightly less stable (e.g., Excel just stops working).

Also, had a bad experience with WinXP-64 compability -- many drivers never got written for it, seemed like at "oddball" operating system. Thinking Win7-64 should be more mainstream.

Thoughts?

 

[COLGeek]

Win 7 x64 and x32 are virtually indistinguishable in terms of stability. Both are equally good. Also, keep in mind that x32 OSes can only support 3.25GB RAM. Go x64 and don't worry. A lot has happened since the XP-x64 days.

 

[nikorr]

Looking to do a new build, and am thinking of going with Win7-64 in terms of being forward-looking, and being able to run for 5 years without getting orphaned.

Have heard that Win7-64 is slightly less stable (e.g., Excel just stops working).

Also, had a bad experience with WinXP-64 compability -- many drivers never got written for it, seemed like at "oddball" operating system. Thinking Win7-64 should be more mainstream.

Thoughts?

No problems with x64bit system. Not even single BSOD. No slowdown with office at all.

Stable as it could be. And I push it to the 16GB RAM shortage often, have to crash yet.

If anything crashed, is the flash inside of the Google chrome after I open around 100 tabs in 1 instance. But Crome is still standing and u can still bookmark the tabs if needed, but still, it doesn't affect the system stability.

So I would say its great. No issues here.

 

[geofelt]

Also, windows 7 64 bit is more resistant to malware infection than 32 bit, and is vastly better than XP:
http://www.winrumors.com/windows-7-malware-infection-rate-significantly-lower-than-windows-xp/

 

[makafri]

go for x64 there are no compatibility problems at all

 

[nikorr]

There is a difference between x64XP and W7x64 as much as is between Win95 and WinXP.

 

[geofelt]

go for x64 there are no compatibility problems at all

Sadly, civilization 2.42, one of my favorites will not run on a 64 bit os🙁. It seems that 16 bit dos programs can't work.

 

[k1114]

Sadly, civilization 2.42, one of my favorites will not run on a 64 bit os🙁. It seems that 16 bit dos programs can't work.

Dosbox should solve that issue.

 

[geofelt]

Dosbox should solve that issue.

I tried it some time ago. Unfortunately, the way civ was programmed(badly) The performance was so miserable and jerky, I could not use it.
I ended up building a 32 bit pc expressly for the game out of obsolete parts.

Thinking about it a bit, I might retry it. My current cpu is much stronger, and perhaps they have fixed something.

 

[winoutreach5]

Hi,

When considering Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit and which may serve you best you may find the following FAQ 32-bit and 64-bit Windows helpful. As another member on this thread stated, 32-bit operating systems address a significantly lesser amount of RAM in comparison to the 64-bit alternative. One can find more information on the memory limitations of different Windows editions here.

For the member, Geofelt, who stated the concern regarding 16-bit Microsoft DOS programs and the compatibility concerns with such architecture, you may benefit from Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC. Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC, available on Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate, allow you to run multiple Windows environments, such as Windows XP Mode, from your Windows 7 desktop. Those who have Windows 7 Home Premium can easily upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate through Windows Anytime Upgrade. For the Civilization 2.42 application you mentioned, this may be an ideal solution for you. Typically speaking, when utilizing Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC, one does not want to depend on the use of such tools for graphic intense applications because they do exist within a virtualized environment. However, since you stated the application in question is 16-bit, it may work out just fine.

As for anyone else present with Windows 7 compatibility concerns, another alternative would be to test the application in compatibility mode first, prior to resorting to a virtual environment. A great web page to learn more about compatibility mode is Make older programs run in this version of Windows.

Jessica
Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro

 

[geofelt]

Hi,

When considering Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit and which may serve you best you may find the following FAQ 32-bit and 64-bit Windows helpful. As another member on this thread stated, 32-bit operating systems address a significantly lesser amount of RAM in comparison to the 64-bit alternative. One can find more information on the memory limitations of different Windows editions here.

For the member, Geofelt, who stated the concern regarding 16-bit Microsoft DOS programs and the compatibility concerns with such architecture, you may benefit from Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC. Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC, available on Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate, allow you to run multiple Windows environments, such as Windows XP Mode, from your Windows 7 desktop. Those who have Windows 7 Home Premium can easily upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate through Windows Anytime Upgrade. For the Civilization 2.42 application you mentioned, this may be an ideal solution for you. Typically speaking, when utilizing Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC, one does not want to depend on the use of such tools for graphic intense applications because they do exist within a virtualized environment. However, since you stated the application in question is 16-bit, it may work out just fine.

As for anyone else present with Windows 7 compatibility concerns, another alternative would be to test the application in compatibility mode first, prior to resorting to a virtual environment. A great web page to learn more about compatibility mode is Make older programs run in this version of Windows.

Jessica
Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro

For what it is worth, I was unsuccessful in running civ 2.42 properly/conveniently using XP mode when I tried the beta of windows 7.
But, for most people, anything that runs in 32 bit will run in 64 bit. Perhaps a more current version of the program is needed, but one should probably upgrade to that anyway for a program of importance.

 

[saundja3]

Best answer selected by saundja3.