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I have a system with 3GB RAM installed. I am planning to move to Windows 8 and am considering whether to install the 32bit or 64bit version.

Regarding CPU, drivers and software there are no issues for me.

I am however concerned about the following (possible?) trade-off:

  • With 3 GB clearly I do not require 64bit at the moment.
  • But on the one hand, installing 64bit windows would give me an easy upgrade path for future RAM increases.
  • On the other hand, 64bit binaries are known to be 30% larger. (Larger pointers need more space.) On hdd this is not an issue for me, but what about RAM? Assuming I am running identical scenarios on 32bit and 64bit systems, will I find the on a 64bit system I require <30% more ram under identical circumstances? Then moving a 3GB machine to 64bit would appear not ideal.

Can anybody comment on this tradeoff?

ARF
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    Where exactly did read that 64-bit binaries are 30% larger compared to 32-bit binaries. I don't disagree they are larger but I don't agree they are 30% larger. – Ramhound Jan 08 '15 at 12:24
  • Note that pointer size does not affect disk storage, but does affect ram usage at runtime; but no, 30% is ludicrous. – Frank Thomas Jan 08 '15 at 12:54
  • @FrankThomas I was looking at http://askubuntu.com/a/70551. – ARF Jan 08 '15 at 13:12
  • I read that question. I still maintain that 30% isn't accurate. Besides you said the binary would be larger, the answer to the linked question, indicates 30% more memory will be used which I contend is also inaccurate. – Ramhound Jan 08 '15 at 13:49
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    install the 32Bit and 64Bit Trial version side by side and test both. Now you can see if the 64Bit version give you any benefits or not. – magicandre1981 Jan 08 '15 at 17:15

1 Answers1

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First question should be: is there a reasonable argument to go to Win8 for you? And what version of Windows are you using at the moment. If 32bit Win7 - why not upgrade to Win7 x64 - it most probably improve your PC performance and won't introduce anything new (Windows 8 build) that can possibly affect your day-to-day activities/software.

Although there is Windows 8 32bit version available, the system itself has been built towards 64bit operations/software/hardware. Unless you use some very old piece of software that has known issues with 32bit compatibility on Windows, I wouldn't advise other than go for 64bit. 3GB of RAM is enough to not only handle Win8 64bit but it may even improve your performance if software you use, makes precise math operations. Although memory usage is slightly higher, I certainly agree with Ramhound, it is far from 30% (probably not even a third of that).

This question is and open question and the answer depends solely on your needs and current configuration.

Thielfer
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