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I'm wondering if some of the device drivers will fail, or does the 64-bit CPU emulate 32-bit?

Joe R.
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2 Answers2

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Yes, you can. x64 is an extension of x86 (additional registers and some new instructions). So anything for x86 should run fine on x64 - the reverse is not always true since x64 can address more "space".

[Edit] If you search this, you'd have found answers already

Community
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nerdwaller
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Of course you can. However, if your computer has 4GB of memory or more, you would not be utilizing all your memory (it is getting difficult to even find PC with less than 4GB of RAM). In practice, I have never seen 32-bit Windows OS to utilize more than 3.5GB. Linux can use 4GB and more with PAE extensions, but this is really awkward and still not perfect way - any given app still cannot get more than 2GB of memory in that mode.

On other hand, if you install 64-bit OS, you can use all of your memory, and run any legacy 32-bit software. Also, on 32-bit OS you cannot run 64 virtual machines in VMware, but on 64-bit OS you can run any combination of them.

mvp
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