In my experience, you can run the 32-bit OS on the 64-bit hardware. This is thanks to the x64, I believe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64. I've done this with XP, Vista and Ubuntu. Regarding the memory, Windows XP will only see what is available after 4GB minus memory allocated for hardware devices like the motherboard and its components and the graphics card (very roughly speaking). Mark Russinovich's Blog has a great write up on Physical Memory and Windows here: http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx .
HTH, Joe ________________________________ From: David Mazzaccaro [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 12:39 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Running 32bit OS on 64bit hardware I have an employee who is purchasing a new home computer at a local computer shop. He came to me and asked what I thought of this new system. He tells me that it has 6GB of RAM. Now, I stop him right there and ask him what operating system he is getting. He says Windows XP Professional (32 bit). I had him confirm with the store that he was getting the 32bit version. My questions are: Are there any ramifications with running XP 32bit on this 64bit hardware? Will he see any performance downgrade? Would he be better off with only 3GB of RAM? Will the OS or the RAM confuse each other? Since I'm not very familiar with 64bit software (or hardware) I am just looking for some insight. Thanks ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
