Vista Forums - View Single Post - 64-bit: More than just the RAM

**johngalt** · 08-27-2008

John L. Galt
August 28th, 2008 at 5:49 am

“update: That’s not true. If your hardware supports more than 4GB, there is no reason to buy 64-bit Windows. 32-bit XP supports 4GB+. So it was right not to mention this because in terms of bitness it does not matter how much RAM you have. If your hardware does not support more than 4GB, then 64-bit OS won’t help you anyway.”

Sorry, do the math.

2^32 = 4 GB. 32bit applications cannot access more than 4 GB of RAM.

Also, there are a few programs that can be recompiled for 64bit OS, especially open-source programs (as you have already noted) as well as others, provided a person has the know how and wherewithal to do so. Finally, The next version of Photoshop is going 64bit, just to name *one* prominent application.

08-27-2008	#70 (permalink)
johngalt Vista Ultimate x64 MAK, OpenSolaris 5, Gentoo 2008.1.... 3,848 posts	Re: 64-bit: More than just the RAM John L. Galt August 28th, 2008 at 5:49 am “update: That’s not true. If your hardware supports more than 4GB, there is no reason to buy 64-bit Windows. 32-bit XP supports 4GB+. So it was right not to mention this because in terms of bitness it does not matter how much RAM you have. If your hardware does not support more than 4GB, then 64-bit OS won’t help you anyway.” Sorry, do the math. 2^32 = 4 GB. 32bit applications cannot access more than 4 GB of RAM. Also, there are a few programs that can be recompiled for 64bit OS, especially open-source programs (as you have already noted) as well as others, provided a person has the know how and wherewithal to do so. Finally, The next version of Photoshop is going 64bit, just to name one prominent application.
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