Solved 32 bit vs 64 bit performance with same RAM

Hello,
I have 2 questions that I need answers:

1)If I have 3.00 Ghz processor, and 4GB of RAM, 32-bit or 64-bit will have a better performance? And if I upgrade my RAM to 8GB, will it boost performance of my 64-bit system a lot? What is the recommended RAM for 64-bit system for best performance if I don't play any games?

2)My Windows Experience Index score is always low because of "gaming graphics" score which is 3.2 (lowest), anyway to boost the score to become high (more than 5.0) without changing my video card (I am still thinking to change or not)?

Thank!

1. A 64 bit OS was never about performance. Which OS will perform better depends on many factors but 64 bit systems tend to perform better if you have 4 GB or more RAM. Within reasonable limits adding more RAM will improve performance. But there will always be a point of diminishing returns beyond which there will be little improvement. That point and how much improvement there will be depends on what applications you are running and multiple other factors. But for general use that point is usually around 8 GB. More RAM will help but probably not much. There are always exceptions.

Be aware that only a 64 bit OS can use more than 4 GB RAM.

2. The only thing that will significantly improve gaming graphics is a new video card. But if you are not playing games why do you care? What are you doing that would benefit?

I understand that there are tricks to change the WEI numbers but they don't improve performance. You would only be fooling yourself.

If I have 3.00 Ghz processor, and 4GB of RAM, 32-bit or 64-bit will have a better performance?

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32Bit x86 OS

Thank for reply.

So I will upgrade RAM to 8GB RAM.

But if I have 8GB RAM and a very bad video card, does it will effect PC performance, or not at all, only for games?

Thank.

Forget the video card if you don't play games. That WEI means nothing regarding the rest of your system performance.

Btw - with 4GB of RAM, a 32bit OS is the better choice. But you want to upgrade the RAM. Then you need 64bit. But don't expect wonders in normal performance behavior. Only for few RAM intensive programs you will see a difference.

I would put the money into a SSD. That gives you a much better performance deal for the money.

whs said:

Forget the video card if you don't play games. That WEI means nothing regarding the rest of your system performance.

Btw - with 4GB of RAM, a 32bit OS is the better choice. But you want to upgrade the RAM. Then you need 64bit. But don't expect wonders in normal performance behavior. Only for few RAM intensive programs you will see a difference.

I would put the money into a SSD. That gives you a much better performance deal for the money.

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Listen to this guy. :thumb:

Thank everyone for reply.

But I still have question. Although I have only 4GB RAM and use 64-bit OS, my OS only use 20% of RAM when idle (task manager show) and I not allowed any program run at startup (except antivirus). It use 30-40% of RAM when doing work, and I try to open a 3D games then my RAM only used up about 60% (still have 40%).

So in this situation does upgrade to 8GB will boost performance?

The Task manager display is often misunderstood. That 60% usage doesn't account for full memory usage. In Resource Monitor look at the value for "Standby" memory. This is not unused but makes a considerable contribution to good performance. Only memory that is labeled as "Free" is unused. With 8 GB memory Standby will be larger and performance better.

Even some computer professionals have been confused by this.

Thank you very much for reply. I will decide to upgrade to a new 8GB RAM with faster speed.

A 64 bit OS was never about performance.

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I totally disagree. 64-bit is all about performance!

Think of 32 lane highways vs. a 64 lane highways. Clearly the 64 lane highways will move significantly more traffic (data) in the same amount of time. And I say highways instead of just one highway because there are many highways (buses) across a motherboard. So a 64-bit OS accommodates the transfer of 64-bit chunks of data to move in 1 clock cycle across those buses, instead just 32-bit chunks for a significant increase in performance.

There is a physical limit to the amount of RAM an OS can address and with a 32-bit OS, that is 4Gb. But because of how hardware addressing is done, less than 4Gb is usable - typically ~3.2Gb with a 32-bit OS.

But hardware addressing is done a bit differently with a 64-bit OS so with 4Gb of RAM, the full 4Gb is available so you do indeed, get a performance boost with 4Gb and a 64-bit OS.

However, Windows loves RAM so with 8Gb and a 64-bit OS, performance is even more improved. Note that 8Gb is often considered the sweetspot. That is, less than 8Gb and performance takes noticeable hit. More than 8Gb and noticeable performance gains are marginal, at best.

I agree to disregard the WEI scores. They don't really mean much and are confusing and because of that, it is no longer available in later versions of Windows.

If I have...4GB of RAM, 32-bit...And if I upgrade my RAM to 8GB, will it boost performance of my 64-bit system a lot?

So in this situation does upgrade to 8GB will boost performance?

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To answer your questions, upgrading from 4Gb of RAM and 32-bit OS to 8Gb of RAM and 64-bit OS will provide a very significant performance boost. Also, because your CPU and Windows have so much more room to play in with 8Gb of RAM, Windows will not have to bang on the slow hard drive to access the Page File near as often. That also increases performance and saves wear and tear on the drive and a bit of energy too.

And after upgrading to 8Gb of RAM, changing your boot drive to a SSD will also provide a nice performance bump with disk access tasks.

Thank you.

64 bit operating systems were designed for the much larger virtual address space they can provide. For a 32 bit OS that is 2 GB by default, 3 GB (for compatible applications) with a boot option that has enough issues that makes it unsuitable for general use. A 64 bit OS provides a virtual address space of 8 TB (8192 GB) for native 64 bit applications, 4 GB for compatible 32 bit applications. In Windows 8,1 and later this becomes 128 TB. This could be further increased in future systems. These address spaces are private to each process and totally independent of RAM size.

Only a programmer can fully appreciate the implications of the larger address space.

Everything else is minor in comparison.

When a 32 bit application runs on a 64 bit OS for all practical purposes it is using a 32 bit processor. The OS provides an emulation layer that faithfully provides the 32 bit environment that 32 bit applications expect and require.

Keep in mind that a 32 bit version of Windows can only address a 4 GB address space. That doesn't necessarily mean you get to use your full 4 gigs of RAM. If you have 4 gigs of RAM and a video card with say 1 gig of RAM, that 1 gig is going to subtract from your 4 gig usable space. You'll only be using 3 gigs of your RAM. Even though its dedicated onboard RAM it still has to be mapped by Windows into that 4 gig space. Go 64 bit and its not an issue. it can then be mapped in the space above the 4 gig limit freeing up your full 4 gigs of RAM. Check your usable RAM and its likely 3 or 3.5 gigs not 4.

U can always enable up to 128gb support on 32bit windows

ch3mn3y said:

U can always enable up to 128gb support on 32bit windows

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I wouldn't recommend it. Your hacking system files to do it and bypassing the license restrictions of memory capacity. Why not just install 64 bit windows and avoid messing up your system with unsupported modes? Just my 2 cents.

While a 32 bit OS can theoretically use up to about 32 GB RAM it is unlikely to be useful. This is supported in some server editions but the situation there is quite different. With many active users a server can use such large amounts of memory. But with 32 bit applications the most each can use is about 2 GB unless it uses special methods and few do. Most users would be hard pressed to use even 8 GB RAM.

In a 64 bit OS a single native application could theoretically use terabytes of RAM if it were available.

LMiller7 said:

64 bit operating systems were designed for the much larger virtual address space they can provide.

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Right - which allows for much more work to be accomplished in the same amount of time - that is, much better performance.

Only a programmer can fully appreciate the implications of the larger address space.

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??? :huh: Yeah right! 'Cuss us stupid hardware types can't "appreciate the implications" moving bigger chunks of data in the same amount of time between the CPU, RAM, GPU and the various data storage I/Os has on performance.