Windows 7 64bit in low specs computer

[jaydeee]

Hello everyone!

Here is my question. Will Windows 7 64bit slow down an old computer with below specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 1.80Gb
RAM: 1.50GB
HDD: 80GB
GPU: Nvidia 8400GS

My specs really are not designed for 64bit performance, I only have 1.50GB RAM. Would you guys think that it would be faster with 32bit Windows 7?

Thanks in advance.

[rah]

Source: http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements



If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:


1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/64-bit-support) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver





With the limited resources you've listed you won't really see any benefit from using the 64bit version. Yes it will run windows 7 (both versions), but I think you'll end up having to turn off some of the bells and whistles to get it to run smoothly. Mostly the aero interface.

Microsoft provides a upgrade advisor that you can download that checks the whole computer for compatibility. See here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor

What are your reasons for wanting to jump to 64bit?

[claybutler]

Yes. Big slowdown. You'll be using scratch discs constantly to do the simplest thing. The OS alone will consume all your ram.

I recommend a new computer. You can get a desktop that will blow away what you have now for well under a grand.

Here's an example http://www.frys.com/product/6276090?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[cashmaster1]

You could also try compusa dot com. Use them exclusively great service and prices. If you opt to buy with a rebate follow the procedure to the letter and you will have no problems. You definitely need to upgrade to run 64-bit Win7. GL

[dgswilson]

If you can use 64 bit "stuff" then your PC "is" designed to use it. You'll know when you try and install OS. It will run or you'll get a message saying you don't have a 64 bit capable system. Will it slow it down? Install it and find out....

There are a lot of factors involved with speed. How many processes running behind the scenes. Is registry optimized (daily). Defrag once or twice a week, spyware everyday, clean up Junk files everyday. When ever I install windows I go and shut off everything I can, there are lots of tutorials on the web for this...

The fastest computer I ever had was an old linux box, nothing on it, just an internet connection, maybe a 1gig amd with half a gig of memory, but a nice gigabyte motherboard. It was "Goopless".

[3DGrunge]

I would recommend upgrading your ram, however your cpu is rather slow.. So as others said, it might be time to get a new machine.
I would suggest www.newegg.com or www.cyberpowerpc.com IMO the products from these two sources are usually the better bang for the buck.

[NetProwler]

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 1.80Gb
RAM: 1.50GB
HDD: 80GB
GPU: Nvidia 8400GS

You have a "slower" CPU - 1.80 GHz in these days of 2.80 + GHz clock speed. And you probably have 2 GB RAM of physical memory which always shows less in the System Properties. HDD capacity of 80 GB indicates that you are with an ancient IDE drive - not the 7200 rpm SATA drives of today. Every bit slows down here. A faster drive, coupled with increased RAM might make things a little faster. But like others pointed out, you would be better off with a new computer.

These days even for browsing the net, you need a high end configuration. Keeping many windows of the browser open at the same time consumes vast resources.

[jaydeee]

thank you very for your replies!

My computer is ok when nothing is open :(( but I start feeling the mini freezes when browsing the net and doing lots of mouse and keyboard activities.

I would consider upgrading RAM.

Thanks again! :))

[weegillis]

If you are not in favor of a new machine, then look for the best RAM you can buy and max out your board (3 to 4 GB?). Go with a brand new SATA hard drive if you're installing a new OS. 500 GB and higher seem to be the norm, today, and buffers are much larger than they used to be. These two changes will speed things up for you. You might want to investigate your video card, too. Does it have lots of on board RAM?

[kgun]

If you can use 64 bit "stuff" then your PC "is" designed to use it. You'll know when you try and install OS. It will run or you'll get a message saying you don't have a 64 bit capable system. Will it slow it down? Install it and find out....

Higher than 32 bit precision on a 32 bit computer must be simulated.

Example. Python (http://www.python.org/) and more advanced NumPy (http://numpy.scipy.org/). In Python, you can in theory, have infinite precision integers. But for practical purposes your memory set a physical limit how large integers you can have. It is self evident that integer operation above 32 bits to 64 bits is much faster on a 64 bit computer than on a 32 bit computer.

A computer has finite state, so infinite precision is a theoretical concept in practice.


Hello everyone!
Here is my question. Will Windows 7 64bit slow down an old computer with below specs:

My specs really are not designed for 64bit performance, I only have 1.50GB RAM. Would you guys think that it would be faster with 32bit Windows 7?

Most probably yes, but it depends on your task. Use Windows 64 bit on a 64 bit computer.

[NetProwler]

You might want to investigate your video card, too. Does it have lots of on board RAM?

GPU: Nvidia 8400GS
The card comes with 512 MB DDR RAM with a reasonable GPU - enough for most desktop usage except for games and advanced rendering.

[kgun]

Speed and video cards are two sides of the same equation on modern computers.

I have been told that even if you use assembler register instructions you can not do it faster than with a good video card / driver.

I am not 100 % certain about what that implies and how you should use the video card (driver) resources directly in your (assembly) programs e.g. to speed up 3-D modelling in computer games.

More resources here: Assembly (http://www.kjellbleivik.com/Books/#assembly)