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WINDOWS 7 64 bit on 32 bit CPU?

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Quikrete

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
okay so today i loaded a new copy of Windows 7 ultimate and when i finally finished istalling the OS i proceeeded with drivers and such. I came to realize that the when i went to get drivers from the websight for my NVIDIA card it prompted me to load 64 bit drivers.. so i went ahead and did it .. Now that im done loading all drivers and such , even ventrilo, that it all apparently works just fine with all 64 bit drivers and i see no lag or lack in performance on anything. So my question is ..

HOW is it that it accepts 64 bit OS and drivers and performs as well as it does and Im very sure im running a 32 bit CPU...

Wat are the dangers if any, and how can i tell for sure that my CPU is in fact a 32 bit CPU, cause i never thought this was possible. Even the motherboard drivers were 64 bit. and everything loaded up just fine without any error's prompting. Is this normal or am i overlooking something?:confused:
 
If you are using 64bit drivers, you are running a 64bit OS. If your processor was only 32bit, the OS wouldn't have even installed.

What is your exact hardware?
 
^^^
Not at all true. I have Windows 7 x86 installed on my Dell 9300 laptop and it's faster than XP (it's not as fast as my dual-core D630, but it's quick enough to do what I need it to do). My mom also has Windows 7 x86 on her Acer netbook. You just have to add more RAM.



OP, go to Control Panel-> System, and report what the processor/CPU line reads as.

It's guaranteed to be a 64-bit processor.
 
I ran a DXDiag this is the info it gave me..

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 10/24/2011, 18:22:40
Machine name:
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: XFX78I
System Model: XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLI
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.8GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 2637MB used, 5550MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode
 
The E8500 is a very capable CPU and 64bit to boot :thup:



EDIT: BTW, gone are the days of worrying about 64bit drivers and such. Unless you are trying to use some really old hardware (Older printers, scanners, etc) with your newer-ish system, you will not run into any problems with 64bit. It's better because you can use all of your 4GB of RAM and when you decide to upgrade beyond 4GB, you will be able to use it! :) :beer:
 
Ran win7 ultimate x64 on my E8500 flawless. And if I do a little digging in my memory, I find that my amd 3800+ single core was already 64 bit. And not very new at it either.

Win7 is indeed faster compared to xp, I dual booted both to try win7, was also stuck on xp, but never really fired it up again. After several weeks it was just annoying to select the os from coldboot :D

This was on my E8500 system ofcourse.
 
Ran Vista on my E8400, E6600, E6400, E6420

Even have Vista on my E1200, E5300!

You have to go a WAAAAYS back to find only 32-bit CPU's unless its specific to a netbook.
 
Windows Vista came out when 64 bit processors were becoming the norm. We're now 6 years on? 64 bit is standard, with 32 bit there for specialty uses - such as portable units.

It's just that the industry hasn't made 64bit a big marketing focus. So it's been a rather quiet, boring transition, and many folks just haven't even noticed. ;)
 
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