Windows 7: Should I Install 64-bit or 32-bit Version? (x64 vs x86)

I would go with 64-bit version in all cases except in these three cases:

  1. If there are no drivers for your devices (some old printers, PIC programmers, etc...)
  2. If you need program that cannot work on 64-bit (Windows Mobile SDK Cellular Emulator comes to mind)
  3. If you have less than 2 GB of RAM (as suggested by jerryjvl :)).

In all other cases, go with 64-bit OS.


Go with the 64-bit version. I have experienced no problems with it that weren't duplicated in the 32-bit version, and it provides some nice benefits (like expanded memory address space, more memory per application, etc).

There's no real reason that I can think of to go 32-bit if your computer supports 64-bit.


If you have more then 3GB memory or planning upgrade to 4GB+ => 64-bit