64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="The Lifehacker Guide to 64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems" class="transform-ku-medium js_annotatable-image cursor-crosshair" data-asset-url="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18ixc2kk5zxndjpg/ku-medium.jpg" data-chomp-id="18ixc2kk5zxndjpg" height="130" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18ixc2kk5zxndjpg/ku-medium.jpg" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; cursor: crosshair; display: block; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; height: auto; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 100%; width: 300px;" width="300" /><br /><div class="row post-content js_text-annotatable" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px -18px; max-width: none; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="has-media media-300" data-textannotation-id="338a026adcb003218e44bcba7a87a14e" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-right: 18px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; width: 336px; word-break: break-word;"><span class="image-annotation-footnote-wrapper" data-footnote-chomp-id="18ixc2kk5zxndjpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 300px;"></span></div><div class="first-text" data-textannotation-id="5b79d3924fd801bc41d915439f676d1c" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">You're probably aware that 64-bit and 32-bit versions of your operating system exist, but apart from ascribing to a bigger-is-better philosophy, you may have no idea what separates the two. The question: Should you use a 64-bit version of Windows, and why?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="5f86964239b73e2c3092891a1403b5ec" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">More and more frequently, users are installing the 64-bit version of their operating system of choice over the less capable 32-bit version. But most people don't really have a full understanding of what the difference really is. Below, we're taking a look at the most important differences so you can better understand what you gain (and potentially lose) if you upgrade to the 64-bit version of your OS. (The post focuses on Windows.)<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><br /><div data-textannotation-id="e566f7707938f1edcbc54dffe017ed6d" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">We've already explained <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5415355/do-you-really-need-more-than-4gb-of-ram" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;">whether you really need 4 GB of RAM</a>, a question that touches on the 64-bit issue, but now let's tackle it in more detail.<br /><a name="more"></a><span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 data-textannotation-id="92d74bbe28d76bd1a32052d51273cb73" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Which Version Do I Have?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div data-textannotation-id="1152d926190d20bd90f43aee08ebee12" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">To figure out which version of Windows you are running, just head into the System properties in Control Panel, or you can take the easy route and right-click on your Computer icon in the start menu or desktop, and choose Properties from the menu. Windows 7 or Vista users will be able to check the System type in the list, while the few XP users with 64-bit will see it on the dialog.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div class="has-media media-300" data-textannotation-id="1df46cb2dd809201005587ae1386f227" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-right: 18px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; width: 336px; word-break: break-word;"><span class="img-border" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 10px; position: relative;"><img alt="The Lifehacker Guide to 64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems" class="transform-ku-medium js_annotatable-image cursor-crosshair" data-asset-url="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18iy2j4paefncjpg/ku-medium.jpg" data-chomp-id="18iy2j4paefncjpg" height="117" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18iy2j4paefncjpg/ku-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: crosshair; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 300px;" width="300" /></span><span class="image-annotation-footnote-wrapper" data-footnote-chomp-id="18iy2j4paefncjpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 300px;"></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="ff36d707595bdd51007aa8759d92775b" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">Keep in mind that your CPU must support 64-bit in order to be running a 64-bit operating system—if you're running a modern CPU you should be fine, but some of the budget PCs don't include a 64-bit processor.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 data-textannotation-id="e1d7a625ed5668ecc70b99022b8d34a5" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Does 32-bit Really Have a Memory Limit?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div class="has-media media-300" data-textannotation-id="a3c446f7730d13a3f21346971d667adc" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-right: 18px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; width: 336px; word-break: break-word;"><span class="img-border" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 10px; position: relative;"><img alt="The Lifehacker Guide to 64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems" class="transform-ku-medium js_annotatable-image cursor-crosshair" data-asset-url="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18iy2j4pe56ixjpg/ku-medium.jpg" data-chomp-id="18iy2j4pe56ixjpg" height="55" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18iy2j4pe56ixjpg/ku-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: crosshair; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 300px;" width="300" /></span><span class="image-annotation-footnote-wrapper" data-footnote-chomp-id="18iy2j4pe56ixjpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 300px;"></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="e76badff88424a9b8bcb5adf950e3cf5" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">In any 32-bit operating system, you are<a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000811.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">limited to 4096 MB of RAM</a> simply because the size of a 32-bit value will not allow any more. On a 32-bit system, each process is given 4 GB of <i style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">virtual</i> memory to play with, which is separated into 2 GB of user space that the application can actually use at a time.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="9c3af552547e385fc262f8e0f2350767" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">Savvy readers might point out that modern chips support <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">PAE</a>, a processor technology that allows the operating system to use a little bit more memory—up to 64 GB, but it also requires special application support that most applications don't have or necessarily need.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="4b4e4bb3264b71ca6c6ce3154a6967c7" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">A common misconception is that this is a Windows-specific problem, when in fact 32-bit Linux and Mac OS X have the same limitations and the same workarounds. 32-bit Linux <a href="http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/119287" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">uses a mapping table</a> to allow access to the extra memory, and OS X Snow Leopard actually ships by default with a <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10320314-37.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">32-bit kernel that can't access all the memory</a> on older systems, even though most of the rest of the OS runs 64-bit processes.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="d226b6fe3038c56aadddd1af92a68b1f" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">The 4 GB limit for Windows, at least, is also a factor of licensing—the home versions of 32-bit Windows, while technically being able to support PAE, have a hard limit of 4 GB for licensing and driver compatibility reasons.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 data-textannotation-id="16ead979ea9fdabbefbb9fc0c3993673" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">More Problems with 32-Bit<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div data-textannotation-id="a077a5b18eb0aa750ca0f7e6a0cf0198" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">Not only does 32-bit have a hard limit for the amount of memory it can address, there's also another problem: your devices, like your video card and motherboard BIOS take up room in that same 4 GB space, which means the underlying operating system gets access to even less of your RAM.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div class="has-media media-300" data-textannotation-id="99d1bbeee0b7a9859cc5ed9061d8856c" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-right: 18px; margin-top: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; width: 336px; word-break: break-word;"><span class="img-border" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 10px; position: relative;"><img alt="The Lifehacker Guide to 64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems" class="transform-ku-medium js_annotatable-image cursor-crosshair" data-asset-url="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18iy2j6of57b5jpg/ku-medium.jpg" data-chomp-id="18iy2j6of57b5jpg" height="119" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18iy2j6of57b5jpg/ku-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: crosshair; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 300px;" width="300" /></span><span class="image-annotation-footnote-wrapper" data-footnote-chomp-id="18iy2j6of57b5jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 300px;"></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="92399ba8703f4d80d08a0f26f897efe2" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">Windows expert Mark Russinovich found that a desktop running 32-bit Windows with 4 GB of RAM and two 1 GB video cards <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">only had 2.2 GB of RAM available for the operating system</a>—so the bigger and better your video cards get, the less of that 4 GB will be accessible on a 32-bit system.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 class="" data-textannotation-id="be1f8af2f60a9e1cb23749096baecd35" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">What's Different About 64-Bit?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div data-textannotation-id="c2c7a51449a6facd12de87a2bd7fe17b" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">While 32 bits of information can only access 4 GB of RAM, a 64-bit machine <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">can access 17.2 BILLION gigabytes</a> of system memory, banishing any limits far into the future. This also means that your video cards and other devices will not be stealing usable memory space from the operating system. Windows 64-bit Home editions are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension#Microsoft_Windows" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">still limited to 16 GB of RAM</a> for licensing reasons, but the Professional and Ultimate versions can use up to 192 GB of RAM, so keep that in mind when building that killer system.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="2ad5dbd158b8ad3ec4fd67a7a53457c2" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">The per-process limit is also greatly increased—on 64-bit Windows, instead of a 2 GB limit, each application has access to 8 TB of virtual memory without any special API, a huge factor when you consider applications like video editing or virtual machines that may need to use enormous amounts of RAM.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="023d067c75dce93219c6ab8a9447c41b" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">On Windows, the 64-bit versions also come with a technology to prevent hijacking the kernel, support for hardware-enabled data execution protection, and mandatory digitally signed 64-bit device drivers. You also won't be able to use your 16-bit apps anymore, which hardly seems like a loss.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 data-textannotation-id="ffd13ad326936311d91a329ca321f0df" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Do 32-bit Applications Work on 64-Bit?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div data-textannotation-id="54fec554391e74e7c88ca1995948fe59" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">The vast majority of your 32-bit applications will continue to work just fine on 64-bit Windows, which includes a compatibility layer called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoW64" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0093ec; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">WoW64</a>, which actually switches the processor back and forth between 32-bit and 64-bit modes depending on which thread needs to execute—making 32-bit software run smoothly even in the 64-bit environment.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="374c000f0a1a4eb45c49cd65e30e4acd" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">There are some exceptions to that rule, however: 32-bit device drivers and low-level system applications like Antivirus, shell extensions that plug into Windows, and some media applications simply won't work without a 64-bit equivalent.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="45977188f30872dde78ab6b10cd43524" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">In practice, the vast majority of your favorite applications will either continue to work, or provide a 64-bit version you can use instead—but you should check to make sure.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 data-textannotation-id="3139c116fcb7f65cd0a1fb6f6492813f" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Does 64-Bit Use Double the RAM?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div data-textannotation-id="1199262f4a45e2aa238843a504f78b80" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">A common misconception about 64-bit Windows is the amount of RAM that is actually used—some people seem to think it will use double the RAM, while others incorrectly assume a 64-bit system will be twice as fast as 32-bit.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="e5d704a943bd8398921ab1c9308b2b53" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">While it's true that 64-bit processes will take a little extra memory, that is a result of the memory pointers being a little bigger to address the larger amount of RAM, and not an actual double in size. Imagine, if you will, an ancient library filing system that has a card to tell you where to find the book in the library—if you got a bigger box to hold the cards, the library would not double in size, you'd just be able to find the book you were looking for more easily.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="0933ac4f9e28112e22b7e839411710a3" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">What <i style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">will</i> increase with 64-bit Windows is the amount of drive space needed for the operating system—with a compatibility layer in place, the base OS will take up a few extra GBs of space, though with today's massive hard drives that should hardly be a concern.<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><h3 data-textannotation-id="0b37b4abda8e02a6ffaf145d72a95498" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, serif; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">The Bottom Line, Which Should I Use?<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal !important; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></h3><div data-textannotation-id="cf7006a30b6c5c130f552c6026a4ee86" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">If you are ordering a new PC with 4 GB or more of RAM, you should probably be running a 64-bit version of Windows so you can use all of the available memory, especially if you want a rig with a large video card—just keep in mind that the Home versions only support 16 GB of RAM (for most people a 16GB limit won't be a problem, but it's worth keeping in mind).<span class="text-annotation-footnote-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="annotateButton js_text-annotate text-annotation-button icon notranslate" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s linear; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: KinjaIcons; font-size: 16px; height: 16px; left: auto; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 7px; margin-top: 1px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 4px; vertical-align: top; width: 16px;">P</span></span></div><div data-textannotation-id="90f80be52c80aebfc331c6d508714284" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 19px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 18px; word-break: break-word;">If you're running Mac OS X, you don't need to worry about 32-bit vs 64-bit, and if you're running Linux, you probably know this stuff already.</div></div></div>

64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems

You're probably aware that 64-bit and 32-bit versions of your operating system exist, but apart from ascribing to a bigger-is-better phi...

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Loadrunner Architecture

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.wilsonmar.com/1loadrun.htm#VuGenRec" rel="nofollow">Loadrunner Architecture</a></div>

Loadrunner Architecture

Loadrunner Architecture

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