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domokun1134 · 2012-02-22, 02:01

I'm currently running XBMC on a refurbished Dell Optiplex 740 that came pre-installed with 32bit Windows 7. Why they pre-installed 32 bit instead of 64-bit since it is a 64-bit machine is beyond me. It's actually pretty snappy right now with XBMC being the only thing that's installed, and I'd just as soon leave things alone but I plan on adding functionality (Hulu Desktop, u-torrent, etc..) and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need more than the 2GB of RAM it came with, and not sure if I should be concerned with being limited to only 4GB (or even less in some cases).

Obviously changing to 64-bit would mean reformatting, which is somewhat annoying to have to do but my main concern is reduced performance in 32-bit apps, namely XBMC. How far is everyone pushing their 32-bit machines?

DDDamian · 2012-02-22, 02:15

There's little to no change in performance going to Win x64 - XBMC is a 32-bit program.

Ram is a good thing - 2gb is kinda low with Windows 7. Give your local ram guy the money, not M$ Big Grin

htpc guy · 2012-02-22, 02:59

I say you try to add the functionality you want without boosting ram. Who knows, you may be satisfied with performance even without the upgrade. My htpc (see signature) only has 2 gb of ram installed and I have no issues with speed. XBMC is snappy and I can even play games from emulators without hiccups. I've set up emulators for every major console, Nintendo through PS1. I've never felt that I needed to install more.

domokun1134 · 2012-02-22, 04:12

I mean when I think about it my Win 7 laptop only has 4GB and I outright abuse that thing. Works surprisingly well. My idea of RAM requirement is a bit skewed because I use a mac for my main computer and OSX is a ram-hog compared to Windows (which is what that machine has 16GB) Smile

Arcko · 2012-02-22, 04:21

I think you no need to get more RAM, maybe get a Graphics Card.

domokun1134 · 2012-02-22, 04:36

I'm using an Nvidia Geforce 210 with 1GB ram, so I'm good there.

Diggs · 2012-02-22, 23:06

I have two XBMC setups, one on W7 32 bit, one on W7 64 bit. The 64 bit machine has lower specs, but they are close. Due to the better Graphics hardware on the 32 bit version, it runs faster. I am guessing if each had identical hardware, I wouldn't notice a difference in the two flavors of windows. Go for the RAM, it is pretty cheap right now.

menes777 · 2012-02-25, 19:01

Are there any plans for a x64 version of XBMC?

DDDamian · 2012-02-25, 19:51

Not until some of the underlying libraries are converted to 64-bit, which is up to their authors.