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Have  a 2007 ultra slim desktop HP Compaq dc7700 which currently has 3 x 1 GB Ram fitted  running on 32 bit  LL2.0
RAM  usually only 10% occupied.  Bios previously updated 2011 version.

System apparently has 64 bit capability so out of interest ran live LL2.2 from USB and all appears to be working OK.

Question therefore:-

What would be the advantage of running 64 bit instead of 32 bit given that existing  RAM is only 3GB and barely occupied.  To fully utilise the 64 bit capability the dc7700 will accept 3 x 2gb RAM modules. Not a cheap upgrade £65.00 or so

Bearing in mind the desktop PC is being used for "normal" office use NOT CAD,  Intense Graphics ( photo editing) or gaming.  is there any point in changing from 32bit to the 64 bit option; with or without RAM upgrade?  Thanks

Hi,

If the model you quoted is correct, no typo's.?
Then it can support a maximum of 4 X 1GB

Spec: http://tiny.cc/hp-mini-dc7700

So you have space for 1 more module,
not sure where the £65+ came from.?

Memory: http://tiny.cc/memory-hp-7700

Extra memory can be useful.

Dave

hi newtusmaximus,
32bit OS without PAE only support ram up to 4 GB.
32-bit Linux with PAE uses a mapping table to allow access to the extra memory (more than 4GB). This is a workaround.
64-bit processors can run 64-bit software, which allows them to use larger amounts of RAM without any workarounds,
allocate more RAM to individual programs (particularly important for games and other demanding applications), and employ more advanced low-level security features.
64-bit processors are backwards-compatible and can run 32-bit software.
This means that you can install a 32-bit operating system on a 64-bit computer.
32-bit applications can run on 64-bit operating systems, but they need the appropriate 32-bit libraries to function.
A “pure” 64-bit edition of Linux wouldn’t be able to run 32-bit applications because it doesn’t have the appropriate libraries.
At this point, the 32-bit compatibility libraries can be quickly installed from the package manager.
They can even be automatically installed when you try to install a package that requires them.
64-bit Linux has a slightly better performance, but uses about 50% more memory then their 32-bit counterparts.
Performance is not noticeably different for most software.
The biggest speedup is probably going to be in math-intensive tasks such as encryption or video encoding and games.
You won't find your browser or music player going noticeably faster.
The gain in speed is tipically 10%.

Tks for the response.  Will stick as I am I think.  For me, not enough gain for the "pain", especially for a linux newbie such as myself.  Working on the KISS principle seems best.

BTW the HP data sheet for the ultra slim dc7700 does state (albeit hidden in the small print) that for a 64 bit OS, each slot can take 2GB of special RAM.  i.e 6GB over the tree available slots on the Ultraslim  The bigger volume Tower version  has the 4 RAM slots.

O.K on the memory...

For reference you could just use 2 slots and put 4GB in. (2X2)
Memory: http://tiny.cc/hp-mem-dc7700-4GB

and put another 2GB if required later...

3 gig ... luxury ... I find that 1 gig is has always accommodated all I do ... have a 512meg system with a early P4 that gets by most of the time