2.99GB RAM on Windows 10 32-bit or 4GB RAM on WIndows 10 64-bit?

Smart_Guy

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Okay, I have this computer from some leftovers that has 4GB of RAM. The Windows 7 on it was 32-bit so the upgrade to Windows 10 had to be to a 32-bit too since the 64-bit upgrade can't run on it, and as far as I know, and please correct me if I'm wrong, the 32-bit key does not work for the 64-bit so I can't reinstall a 64-bit Windows 7 to upgrade to a 64-bit Windows 10.

The system sees only 2.99GB because of that (the video card is a ~1.5GB GTX 480). I heard that 64-bit OS's use and require more RAM to run. Will I benefit of upgrading to 64-bit with this same amount of RAM (4GB)? Will the ~1GB extra RAM I gain from it have an amount of it available that is worth it to utilize? Is that amount worth the new purchase of a 64-bit Windows?

There are no plans to upgrade the RAM as that computer is just a stand-by made from leftovers.

At best, I won't be playing demanding video games on it.

Thank you for your opinion :)
 
No the 32bit key won't work on a 64bit OS. The key is tailored to show what OS it is and if it's 32 or 64.
If you're wanting to put a 64bit version of windows on, the platform has to be 64bit to start with.
 
32 bit won't see a full 4 gig memory but the 64 bit can so you gain a little and always can add memory to it.
 
Cool, thanks guys.

My main question is:
Out of the existing physical 4GB, do I get more worthy available memory with a 32-bit or a 64-bit Windows 10? I know it will show 2.99GB total in the former and 4GB total in the latter, but would the 64-bit still give more available memory knowing 64-bit OS's use more memory vs 32-bit? MS does say minimum RAM for 32-bit is 1GB and for 64-bit is 2GB.
 
That's a good point. It seems that the 32 bit would use less memory than the 64 bit but the 64 bit allows you to have more memory though.

I looked at the performance graphs of my W10 and saw something interesting. I have 8 gigs but 7.5 available. It showed 538 MB hardware reserved and 2.0 of 7.5 gigs in use.
 
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That's a good point. It seems that the 32 bit would use less memory than the 64 bit but the 64 bit allows you to have more memory though.

I looked at the performance graphs of my W10 and saw something interesting. I have 8 gigs but 7.5 available. It showed 538 MB hardware reserved and 2.0 of 7.5 gigs in use.

Do you have a dedicated GPU installed or just using the integrated?

When I had my Core 2 Quad rig I had 4GB's of ram installed with a GTX650 2GB and Windows showed that I had the whole 4GB available.
 
And since I'm not gonna upgrade the current 4GB, I'm having these thoughts. It is also said that any 64-bit app uses more RAM than its 32-bit counterpart, not just the OS. Well I heard OpenCL and similar technologies utilize the video card memory for the OS. I hope it does it efficiently. The 1.5GB in the video card could make a difference.
 
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