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Vista Tip: 32bit or 64bit? |
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You may have noticed that Windows Vista is available in 32bit and 64bit versions, and you may be asking yourself what the difference is.
Simply put: the higher amount of bits you have, the more memory you can use. Windows 32bit versions can access a maximum amount of 4bg of RAM, whereas the 64bit version can access a total of 17 million gigabytes.
This is because CPUs communicate with the system’s RAM memory via numeric addressing. The maximum amount of memory that can be addressed by a 32bit processor is 2^32, so 4GB. The maximum amount of memory that can be accessed by a 64bit processor is 2^64, approximately 17 million GBs.
When selecting a 64bit OS, the amount of RAM you are looking to install is not your only concern. There are other factors to take into consideration. While a 64bit OS can run most 32bit programs, it is not compatible with 32bit device drivers, so you must ensure you have native 64bit driver for all the devices on your system. It is also worth taking into consideration that Vista 64bit is not fully mainstream software at the moment and many developers and manufacturers aren’t too keen to support 64bit drivers and applications. This, however, will change with time.
It is possible to order a version of Vista 64bit if you already own a 32bit version. All that is required is that you pay the shipping of the product. It is important to note that once you activate your Vista 64bit with your existing 32bit activation key, it will not be possible to revert back to your 32bit installation with the same key. On a final note, you might need to stay with your 32bit Vista installation if your business is running older software, particularly 16-bit software, for everyday use as such software won’t run on Vista-64.
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