Hi, just a little question because im noob about this

#1 - I wanna know if your processor supports 64 bits, will the Windows 64 bits edition run faster than the 32 bits version ?

#2 - Can i run 32bits application in windows 64 bits ?

#3 - Can i also install some 32bits drivers or do i need to have all the 64 bits one? and again, will the 64 bits one be faster ?

I'm a serious gamer and i want to pump the most performance out of my PC, i have a Opteron 165 dual core with 2GB of Ram, and Geforce 7900GT, i know that is already fast, but if i can get more performance out of the 64 bits edition of windows then ... why not ?

1: If you have a 64-bit processor, and windows 64-bit, then the processor will run 64-bit mode. This isn't as much about speed as it is about the processing power. Running older software and most games will force the CPU into 32-bit emulation mode. Running 32-bit Windows on a 64-bit processor will only be a little more efficient.

2: You can ATTEMPT to run 32-bit software in 64-bit mode with a 64-bit OS, but keep these things in mind: With a 64-bit processor, POINTERS, INTS, ADDRESSES, ETC, are now 64 BITS, INSTEAD OF 32 BITS! This WILL be a problem, as most programs were written with a 32-bit pointer and/or int size in mind. If the programmer is trying to reference memory address 0100011000100110101110001000110 (32-bit address), the 64-bit processor might load an extra 32 bits of "garbage data", screwing up your address: 01000110001001101011100010001100001010001001010110101001010000. Who knows WHAT this will do! Hopefully, it will just crash. So while running XP 64-bit, using commands, variables, etc which are now thought by the CPU to be 64-bits, while they are 32-bits, will cause all sorts of havoc.

3: You should get whatever drivers are recommended for the hardware you have, and specifically for XP 64-bit, should you choose to install XP 64.


If you are a serious gamer (yay games) then I would recommend against a 64-bit operating system right now. There are virtually no programs (certainly not games) that take advantage of the 64-bit processing mode. So running normal games and software will force the CPU into 32-bit emulation mode anyway, and you gain no additional speed or computing power (and risk catastrophic bit mangling, as I demonstrated above).

One of the biggest reasons to (eventually) switch to 64 bits is that while running in 64-bit mode, the CPU is faster, more powerful (MUCH bigger numbers), and more efficient/accurate than a 32-bit processor. The largest number a 32-bit machine can handle is 4,294,967,295. The largest number available to a 64-bit machine is 18,446,744,073,709,551,615! WAY more! This is VITAL for RAM. Because of the maximum number on a 32-bit machine, the most RAM you could ever really jam into your computer is around 2 GB. Well, you COULD put more in, but that would be a huge waste of time/money, since the number of memory addresses would quickly excede the maximum 32-bit number. In other words, there would be a bunch of memory addresses in RAM that the CPU could never even comprehend! Wasted and unused memory. With 64-bit processors, well, you saw how many more numbers it could handle, and thus how much more RAM it can utilize. To REALLY milk all the power out of a 64-bit machine, 4 GB of RAM is about right. But again, keep in mind that most (if not all) of the games out there right now are NOT designed for 64-bit mode, and therefore do not benefit from it what-so-ever.

Ok thanks a lot, i think ill stay in 32 bits for now