Benefits of 64bit?

[danperteet]

I have a 64bit system and have always ran 32 bit OSes. I have been considering upgrading to a 64bit version of 7 but I wanna know, what are the benefits besides being able to use more ram? In general I am worried about having worse performance. I really want to stay up to date, but I really would like to know why it is better. I know I must sound noobish but I just haven't had the opportunity to test it firsthand.

 

[Veedaz]

Hi danperteet

I think this quote from Microsoft puts the 64bit system in prospective and i use the 64bit Windows 7 and I'm very happy with it

The 64-bit systems offer direct access to more virtual and physical memory than 32-bit systems and process more data per clock cycle, enabling more scalable, higher performing computing solutions.

 

[Nibiru2012]

If you have 4GB of RAM or more, it will fully utilize the RAM and the entire OS is quicker and more responsive. In addition, the vast majority of 32 bit software will run on it as an x86 folder is installed also. If the programs you use have 64 bit version then that's the way to go since they'll run much quicker.

 

[TorrentG]

64 bit doesn't usually run with any greater margin of performance. Benchmarks are similar except mostly video encoding. Then there is a significant difference. Otherwise, fairly similar.

 

[danperteet]

64 bit doesn't usually run with any greater margin of performance. Benchmarks are similar except mostly video encoding. Then there is a significant difference. Otherwise, fairly similar.

Weird that you mention Video encoding, as I had to wait about 10 minutes for my HD video to encode. Maybe it'll encode even faster.

 

[TorrentG]

If you have a decent video card, you can use Mediashow Espresso to encode using the gpu for really fast encoding.

NVIDIA users could also use Badaboom to do so.

ATI users could install Avivo for ATI/AMD's website and have gpu encoding in the Catalyst Control Center, basic part.

 

[catilley1092]

One of the benefits of 64 bit is that you can run many 32 bit programs as well. Right now, there is a lack of 64 bit programs. Who do we point the finger at? I don't know. But most, if not all, new systems on the market now are 64 bit, so there will be more pressure to create the programs for them.