64 bit

I was thinking about switching to 64 bit to make use of my 4Gb of ram. I have a AMD Phenom II X3 720 which i think supports 64 bit. I don't need any hardware changes right? Also, is it worth it to buy 64bit Win7? Even if I do upgrade, it probably won't be until end of the year at the earliest.

64bit is certainly the future, but it's true strength wont be realised until software makers start catching up, as to when it is right for an individual is open to debate, the best advice is to check out your hardware, make sure 64bit drivers are available, if they aren't then your already in trouble, next look at the software you want to run, make sure that will work on 64bit as well, should you find there are things you use regularly that wont run on 64bit then it's best to hold off, no point going 64bit if you can't run what you need, thats my main reason for holding back from going over in full personally, hopefully this will give you something to think about.

I have a AMD Phenom II X3 720 which i think supports 64 bit.

It does support 64 bit. See : AMD Processors for Desktops: AMD Phenom™

8210GUY's reply sums it up really well.

64bit is fully backwards compatible. I'm running Win7 64bit on my gaming PC and it's absolutely fantastic. I recommend it. Personaly, i doubt you'll see a difference in the jump from 3gb to 4gb ram unless you're doing some quite heavy gaming. I have 8gb ram, hence my need for 64bit OS, but if you want to make use of all your 4gb ram, go ahead!! 'Bob

I would recommend you to upgrade to 64 bit. The 64 bit handles large amounts of RAM more effectively than a 32 bit system.

I would recommend you to upgrade to 64 bit. The 64 bit handles large amounts of RAM more effectively than a 32 bit system.

Don't take this the wrong way, but is there really a need to bump old and resolved threads, only to pretty much say with whats already been said ?
The OP had already said it was to use they're 4gig of ram, and it's not just this thread, you have bumped threads over 1 year old that are well finished with, it is far more beneficial to everyone if you help in current topics rather than dig up ones that are done with, tech moves so fast it's better to stay current is all I'm saying.

64bit is fully backwards compatible

That's a common statement about 64bit, but it's a myth.
Yes it is backward comparable with 32bit software, but guess what?

Plenty of 32bit software still has a lot of 16bit code in it because 32bit is backward compatible with 16bit code and software writes saved themselves a lot of time by just upgrading the code where necessary, not completely re-writing it in 32bit

And that's the big problem with 64bit. It isn't backward compatible with 16bit code and is the reason a lot of software just does not work correctly with a fair bit of (supposedly) 32bit software. So 64bit is definately not "fully"
backward compatible.

So I go along with 8210GUY

64bit is certainly the future, but it's true strength wont be realised until software makers start catching up, as to when it is right for an individual is open to debate, the best advice is to check out your hardware, make sure 64bit drivers are available, if they aren't then your already in trouble, next look at the software you want to run, make sure that will work on 64bit as well, should you find there are things you use regularly that wont run on 64bit then it's best to hold off, no point going 64bit if you can't run what you need, thats my main reason for holding back from going over in full personally, hopefully this will give you something to think about

.

I've never been an early adopter for anything PC and never will. It's saved me plenty of grief, money and I missed that terrible Vista completely

Cheers,
Lee

PS EDIT: Hmmm, I got caught there. I didn't realized this was an old bumped thread.

yes topic is a bit old but still worth debating in my opinion. i'm a big fan of 64bit and would definitely recommend anyone now who's thinking of upgrading or buying a new pc with os to go the win7 64bit route. of course i've been running a 64bit linux os for at least 2 years..

Yes 64bit for sure for the future. As long as you don't have 32bit programs you have paid for that are not 64bit compatible. There is still a lot of that around and software writers have a lot of catching up to do (as has been said before in this thread). Speed wise, there is actually very little 64 bit specific software around that will benefit the average Joe. Practically nil so far but it is coming …eventually. Early adopters for anything PC will always be out of pocket for very little advantage, but will at least feel good and have bragging rights Cheers, Lee