What is the best OS for 2GB of RAM ? - 32 bit or 64 bit

[76561198249125212]

Hi guys i recently build a pc on low budget (total cost 190 euros!!!). Because i was on low budget i installed only 2 GB of RAM. I am currently running windows 7 64 bit and i experience lagging on browsers, i checked it and RAM usage is pretty high about 90% (CPU is on 20%). So my question is should i switch to windows 7 32 bit ? Is this going to help RAM usage and stop lagging ? Thank you

[[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace]

Win7 32-bit may free up another 512MB of RAM as the pointers are all smaller, etc.

[_I_]

win64 can run 32 and 64 bit programs (xp64 has very limited 32bit program eumulation)

32 bit programs have a ram limit of 2g per program
and 3.5-3.75g for the entires system

64bit program can use as much ram as available

[Floridaman]

64-bit. You're gonna have to have a minimalist lifestyle with your computer either way.

Go to My Computer -> System Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance. Disable everything but smooth edges and maybe translucent selection rectangles.

Disable all the services and unneeded crap running in the background by running msconfig or services. Gamebooster does this automatically, or you can get the list of services it disables and do it yourself and uninstall gamebooster.

Първоначално публикувано от vadim:

What are the benefits from 64-bit? I see no any. Only disadvantages.

64-bit code is faster than 32-bit code even if an application doesn't go over the 32-bit memory limit. It does use more memory though, but 32-bit is becoming legacy hardware and memory usage can be lowered with some tweaking, and the OP is already doing a ghetto rig instead of the best solution which is upgrading when ram is cheap so might as well take the extra step.

[MorphineJH]

A lot of peole are quick to tell you to buy new hardware. To answer your questions, the 32-bit OS would be the better option given the memory requirements you have stated. 2GB of memory on a 32-bit OS will not be slow simply because its only 2GB of memory...

To answer your other question: Will is stop lagging? Probably not. I have a feeling your underlying hardware (cpu, motherboard, HDD) are probably slowing you down as well.

Първоначално публикувано от ロイ:

64-bit code is faster than 32-bit code even if an application doesn't go over the 32-bit memory limit.

This is an absolute false statement. Even the Steam application is still 32-bit. The main advantage to compiling in 64-bit is to get access to more memory. Although 64-bit hardware may outperform 32-bit hardware, it is usally because of the architecture (i.e. more registers, faster data transfers, bigger cache, etc...) However, many parts of this architecure can be used with the 32-bit applications as well if you have the underlying 64-bit hardware in place.

[Floridaman]

Първоначално публикувано от MorphineJH:

Първоначално публикувано от ロイ:

64-bit code is faster than 32-bit code even if an application doesn't go over the 32-bit memory limit.

This is an absolute false statement. Even the Steam application is still 32-bit. The main advantage to compiling in 64-bit is to get access to more memory. Although 64-bit hardware may outperform 32-bit hardware, it is usally because of the architecture (i.e. more registers, faster data transfers, bigger cache, etc...) However, many parts of this architecure can be used with the 32-bit applications as well if you have the underlying 64-bit hardware in place.

Sigh.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit#Pros_and_cons

That's not a false statement that code is faster even if a program doesn't go over the 2gb limit.

Anyways, the bigger issue is changing usage habits to be more minimalist.

[[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace]

Using 32-bit the pointers in executables and the Kernel will be half the size.

This may free up 512MB to 1024MB of memory.

Also 64-bit executables tend to be about 30% larger than 32-bit ones.

[vadim]

Първоначално публикувано от _I_:

32 bit programs have a ram limit of 2g per program
and 3.5-3.75g for the entires system
64bit program can use as much ram as available

Are you consider that as benefit for 2 GB system? When 2 GB is ALL available RAM?

Първоначално публикувано от ロイ:

64-bit code is faster than 32-bit code even if an application doesn't go over the 32-bit memory limit.

Really, it is not. The only reason why 64 bit can be faster is 8 additional general-purpose registers. But instruction word is longer because of additional prefixes, longer addresses, offsets and opcodes themselves. Thus, this makes decode slower. More than that, you need twice as much cache/RAM bandwidth for data and stack (and you can keep more instructions in L1i cache and twice more data in L1d cache. So you have more cache hit percentage).
And you usually don't get any performance gain from ability to use 64-bit operands - compiler uses SIMD instructions to work with 64-bit data either way.
All in all, 64-bit applications either have the same performance or, in best case, 10-15% faster. No big difference.

[Floridaman]

If OP is absolutely never going to buy another ram stick, then yeah 32-bit is better for the stated reasons. Otherwise it's getting deprecated from less hardware support, less drivers, and it'll save hassle later down the line instead of having to re-install all of Windows again.

Modern 2015 software (often still 32-bit too) and a bloated browser on limited memory is going to struggle either way and the future has to be kept in mind. Ram is cheap too. But yeah I made the points because of that, and the huge misconception about 64-bit. Go for 32 if you're set on not upgrading.

[rotNdude]

You need to get your RAM to 4GB. It doesn't matter what OS you're running.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Първоначално публикувано от rotNdude:

You need to get your RAM to 4GB. It doesn't matter what OS you're running.

Finally