4GB RAM - Confusion whether to go with 32 or 64 bit OS...

[the b man]

Hi, ive been reading about the differences between 32 and 64 bit Operating systems and have read that the main difference is how the RAM is handled, but I have read some conflicting info about the amount of RAM that each one supports. I will be using exactly 4GB of RAM in the new rig that I am building, and on some websites I have read that a 32 bit OS works well with up to 4GB of RAM, while some other websites say to go with 64 bit if using 4GB or more. Which of these is correct? Is 4GB of RAM within a 32 bit Operating systems specs or not?

I would much rather stick with a 32 bit OS for the compatibility of drivers and software, but would like to know if it will in fact recognize and work well with 4GB of RAM, or will there be some sort of limitation in performance with the 4GB and a 32 bit OS. Please help, thanks.

 

[Fat.Clown]

32 bit OS will in fact recognize and work fine with 4 GB, just won't be able to utilize all 4 GB of memory.
if I recall correctly, 32 bit OS can only use up to ~ 3.75 GB of memory.
using 32 bit OS with 4 GB of memory will not hinder performance in any way; except when you are memory limited.

 

[the b man]

Thank you for the answer. What exactly do you mean by "when you are memory limited" though? Not sure what your referring to.

 

[myr707]

http://www.techist.com/forums/f9/difference-between-32-bit-x86-64-bit-x64-171390/#post1349279

 

[Fat.Clown]

Thank you for the answer. What exactly do you mean by "when you are memory limited" though? Not sure what your referring to.

for when you do memory intensive stuff, you might need that extra 250 MB of memory.
for example if I were to render 4,500 photographs at once, it might use 3.75 GB of memory, what happens if I want to render one more photograph?
low on memory warning will come up.

for average users, 4 GB is enough, but for professional, 4 GB may not be enough.

 

[the b man]

Thanks, I definitely appreciate the advice. 250MB of memory loss really isnt worth the loss of compatibility to me, as I use a lot of older software in my everyday computer tasks. There are a lot of programs that I use that probably wouldnt work right with a 64 bit OS.