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Win7 -- to x64 or not to x64, that is the question

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Nod5:
I will finally move from XP to Windows 7. But I have some pretty old hardware devices e.g. external soundcard, tv card, remote control hardware and other stuff. I've read that finding Win7 x64 (64bit) drivers for old hardware may be tricky or in some cases impossible.

So why should I go for x64 Win7 and not just stick to Win7 32bit?  :tellme:

I feel that x64 is a better choice, clinging to x86 feels kind of backwards. But I'd like some solid arguments to back that up.

The big practical advantage I've read about is that x64 permits more than 4GB of RAM. But three things seem to diminish that advantage.
1. On Win XP 32bit the RAM above 3.25 GB can be utilized as a ramdisk. That likely works on Win7 32bit too (right?). So extra RAM can be used as diskspace and isn't just wasted.
2. I don't use any applications with extreme RAM-needs. At least I don't think so. What applications would benefit noticeably from 4+ GB of RAM?
3. With less system RAM the OS might use the pagefile more often. Pagefile access on a regular HDD can slow things down. But I'll use a SSD for the new install. That makes pagefile access a non-issue (or?).

Feedback on 1-3 is very welcome. I'd also like to hear other good reasons for choosing 64bit that I've likely omitted.

rgdot:
2. Total applications in startup and open at same time is a bigger issue than any one app, unless you use things like 3D modelling which have their own stated requirements.

cranioscopical:
I'll drop in an opinion or two that may leave you less excited than you'd hope. That said, if I were asked if I'd move to 7 now, or stay where I was, I'd unhesitatingly say move.

I'd imagine that you could be forced to abandon at least some hardware. I found that all of my printers had some sort of support that made them usable but it was a pain finding the right drivers. I had to give up a perfectly good graphics tablet. (That sort of thing was true when I went to XP from W98). OTOH you will future-proof your machine somewhat. Personally, I find that being forced to drop some piece(s) of hardware legitimizes the lust for new stuff.

I needed a new machine in August so I made that W7-64 (I'd been using XP-32). If you use Adobe stuff you'll find that some (not much) is optimized for W7-64, and running several CS applications concurrently soon reveals the benefit of extra RAM. Games will be more fun (isn't that why we upgrade hardware anyway).

One way or another (thanks, DOSBox) there's been some way to run just about any software that I had (including some custom-written DOS-based business software that didn't always stick to the rules, and which is far too expensive to replace).

There remain a number of daily annoyances. Partly these result from having to fit in with W7's way of doing things, rather than imposing my own will. Sometimes, they're (to me) inexplicable, and fiddling around with permissions can be frustrating.  W7 is both the best and the most annoying Windows O/S that I've used.

I had waited for W7 until the time came for a new machine. I'm not sure that I'd upgrade an existing machine — all of my others still run XP.

The all-time best improvement for me came not from the OS per se but from using an SSD as my boot drive.

  

f0dder:
x64, and never look back.

hpearce:
Ifyou're saying that 32bit drivers exist for some of your device for win 7 but not 64 bit, then I would go with win7 32 bit or wait to get a newer PC.

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