64-bit Vs. 32-bit

[FruitRocks 0]

I've been using 32-bit OS's for all of my life. However, I thought it would be a good idea for me to get an OS with 64-bit capability because they are obviously more powerful. I'm definitely not a newbie to computers, but this whole 64-bit OS (I bought a Toshiba A505-S6980 Windows 7 Home Premium, Intel Core 2 Duo) is totally new to me. What are some things that I should look out for when using a 64-bit OS (again; I am not a newbie, even with 7. I installed the 32-bit RC on my computer a few weeks earlier).

[truefusion 3]

What are some things that I should look out for when using a 64-bit OS

Your RAM, if you have 4 gigabytes or more, showing up as its actual size. Concerning Windows 7: Windows 7 requiring 2GBs compared to their 32-bit version, which requires 1GB. There's practically not much else to expect.

[Quatrux 4]

I can add that for a lot of people 32 bit processors Today is quite fine, because if you want to take real advantage using 64 bit processors you have to have at least or more than 4 GB of RAM, a 64bit cpu can do much more calculations rather than 32 bit, but most of the software today is created and compiled for 32 bit, so also you won't have a lot of advantage, 32 bit software will work of course on a 64 bit cpu, but compiled software for a 64 bit cpu won't work on a 32 bit computers, so this is the main reason. I really think that in the future we will be using only 64 bit processors and won't even talk about 32 bit cpus and I think that 64 bit processors will be there for a long time :)Another reason is that 32 bit computers has a limit of RAM ~3 GB on Vista you can use somehow 4 GB of RAM but not more, there are just not enough bits to continue on more ram, where 64 bit processor is able to handle much more, but it's efficiency starts over 4 GB.(2^32) bytes = 4 gigabytes <--- 32 bit CPU(2^64) bytes = 17 179 869 184 gigabytes <--- 64 bit CPUFeel the difference? :(As I know a lot of servers and super computers are using 64 bit CPU's to be able to use 8 GB and even 12 GB of RAM maybe even more, as most of servers are in a grid.Moreover, I read that the 64-bit version of Windows Vista operating system is for about 11% percent faster than 32-bit Vista. Someone did benchmarks for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms with prove.But what I want to know is the difference between lets say 32 bit quad core or dual core with a single 64 bit CPU and etc. about performance, even though a lot of software these days does not support multithreading and only use one CPU, which also isn't as good as using both at the same time.