Upgrade 32 bit To 64 bit ?

GottaGetSumDat said:

^^THIS^^

why you may ask ? cause the 32 bit version can only see & use a max of 4GB of ram, but the 64 bit version can use as much as you can give it :)

> 4GB is true. Less is not so clear cut as I explained earlier.

cereberus said:

> 4GB is true. Less is not so clear cut as I explained earlier.

True. It's been so long since I worked on a 32 system I forgot they only see 4GB RAM tops. But on his 64 system 8+ GB of RAM will be very helpful.

Malneb said:

There is no reason to not use 64bit as others have mentioned you are hard capped at 4gb ram you are also taking performance hits in many areas of the computer by using 32bit like the CPU register etc is faster on a 64bit machine but you need a 64bit OS to make use of that.

You are limiting a 64bit processor and in turn the rest of the system by running a 32bit OS.

Well we've all helped with good advice. I just don't think this person is going to reinstall Windows 64 bit on his old computers according to his OP. Any who, best of luck to the OP.

Del 80 said:

I have three Toshiba Satellite laptops......all running the latest version of w10......two are 64 bit, and one is 32 bit.......my question is, is there any real advantage to upgrading the 32 bit one to 64 bit ?.........it looks like it SHOULD be possible.....but is it worth it ?....

The best reason for upgrading to 64bit, is so you CAN use more than 4GB of RAM.

Del 80 said:

I notice that one of the other laptops, has only 2gb of RAM, and it runs 64 bit just fine.......so to re-cap.....back up the 32 bit OS to a flash drive......download the OS from one of the 64 bit machines.........clean install it onto the 32 bit machine......if it really is that simple, I might just do it.........I can always add RAM later.......

The more RAM the better, but I have found that a 64 bit OS runs well enough with 4GB RAM. At a pinch 3GB is sufficient (I have run Windows 11 in 3GB RAM). It helps if you have an SSD for the swapfile to use.

I like to keep one 32 bit machine available though, in case I need to run any 16 bit apps (old games, for example).

Megahertz said:

If you have 4G or less memory, use 32 bits. If you have more than 4G, you should install 64 bits OS.

Let me explain my point of view for the reasons I suggest the above.
- A 32 bits OS can only address 3.2 G of memory (not 4G as mentioned)
- Most low cost computers use internal graphics and they use main memory.

32 bits OS on a computer with 4 G
- 4 G - 3.2 G = 800 M available to internal graphics.
- Windows needs around 1.2 G of memory to run smooth.
- 3.2 G (available to OS ) - 1.2 G (Windows) = 2 G available to programs.

64 bits OS on a computer with 4 G
- 4 G - 0.8 G (IG)= 3.2 G available to to Windows.
- Windows needs around 2.2 G of memory to run smooth.
- 3.2 G (available to OS ) - 2.2 G (Windows) = 1 G available to programs.

On a computer with 4 G of memory and internal graphics, with 32 bits OS you will have the double of memory available to programs then if you use 64bits OS