Windows 7 64-bit questions???

[HotDamn!]

I'm going to be upgrading to a 64-bit os and I figured I might as well go with Windows 7, even though I'm happy with XP. I'm also going to be getting a gtx 260 graphics card to take stress off my ram with the on board graphics, also for my gaming and video's. It may be a little while before I get the mobo to complete the setup I want.

I was thinking of getting 4GB of RAM but wasnt sure if that would be enough? I do game and use Avast anti virus which runs constant, also I use a program called xfire to keep in contact with friends while gaming, another almost constant app... I would also soon be getting another program to help with dual displays that would run constant.

I was hoping someone would know how much I would need to be able to run my setup. Since I like XP so much I was thinking of putting it on another drive so that I can switch back and forth but wasnt sure how good Windows 7 was, any opinions on that would be great too..

Thanks for any help

[aedipuss]

4gb on a 64 bit system should be fine for you. windows will be able to use all of it, rather than the under 3gb it would "see" if it were a 32bit os.

the only apps that might be better off with more would be things like cad/cam, or huge photos in photoshop.

i've been using win7 32 bit for a little while now and haven't seen memory usage go over 1.5gb.

[HotDamn!]

ok thank you, I'll go for the 4 gigs. Much cheaper than the 6 gigs i was looking at..

[redwudz]

You're probably already aware of this, but make sure the drivers for your motherboard, video card and any other plug in cards have 64bit drivers available and that your applications can run in 64bit mode. W7 does have a system for XP compatibility, but not sure how that would work from XP 32bit to W7 64bit. Because I have a few devices and programs that aren't 64bit compatible, I stuck with W7 32bit. I do prefer W7 over XP.

[HotDamn!]

You're probably already aware of this, but make sure the drivers for your motherboard, video card and any other plug in cards have 64bit drivers available and that your applications can run in 64bit mode. W7 does have a system for XP compatibility, but not sure how that would work from XP 32bit to W7 64bit. Because I have a few devices and programs that aren't 64bit compatible, I stuck with W7 32bit. I do prefer W7 over XP.

I'm pretty sure all my programs will work with it, my uncle has 64bit and we like a lot of the same programs and so far he's had no trouble. I'm also pretty sure that my mobo and cpu will do fine but I'm not 100% on the video card.. here's the link for the card if someone could help with that http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143189&cm_re=Nvidia_Geforce_G...-189-_-Product

It's a newer graphics card so I'm hoping it will. I may just keep XP on another computer I have just to have it I guess, I'm sure I'll like Windows 7, I've heard great things about it.

Thanks for the heads up and if I'm spacing something I would love to know. I'm learning as I go along with this.

[Jim44]

I'm pretty sure all my programs will work with it, my uncle has 64bit and we like a lot of the same programs and so far he's had no trouble. I'm also pretty sure that my mobo and cpu will do fine but I'm not 100% on the video card.. here's the link for the card if someone could help with that http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143189&cm_re=Nvidia_Geforce_G...-189-_-Product

My video card runs on an even older GPU, and seems to be handling Win7 x64 with Aero just fine.

I've done several Windows upgrades in the past, all the way back to 95->98 (skipped Vista though, so this was XP->Win7), and this was by far the easiest, both in terms of general upgrade but also having a fairly complete set of drivers. I'm still installing programs and getting all peripherals connected, but so far everything works and I haven't had to run anything in "compatibility" mode yet.

(The second PC is even older, but running Win7 x32, and is doing fine as well - can't recall right now if it's running Aero. It's the son/wife computer, so has a lot less demand.)

[HotDamn!]

Well that sounds great then. I think I may be ready for my upgrade. Thanks everyone