How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit? And...

[Brian V]

How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit?

How can I tell what my computers processing is? (I don't know where to look
in the control panel?).

Is it possible to install a Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade and then the
Windows 7 Upgrade from a Windows XP (Home Premium) system? I still hav not
installed my Vista Upgrade, and may get the 7 Upgrade since boxing day is
comming and the 7's are going to be on sale.

Thank you.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Got Google?

How to determine whether a computer is running a 32-bit version or 64-bit
version of the Windows operating system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218

Post your upgrading-to-Win7 questions here:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/threads

 

[Jim]

How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit?

How can I tell what my computers processing is? (I don't know where to
look
in the control panel?).

Is it possible to install a Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade and then
the
Windows 7 Upgrade from a Windows XP (Home Premium) system? I still hav not
installed my Vista Upgrade, and may get the 7 Upgrade since boxing day is
comming and the 7's are going to be on sale.

Thank you.

1) Start/Run Winver. If it doesn't say 64 bit, you have 32 bit. If you
have the 64 bit version of XP, you would surely know as it takes a separate
license and separate CD.

2) Yes, but that seems a bit circuitous. Since I am running XP, that is all
of the advice I should give (maybe more than I should give).

Jim

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit?

Windows XP? It's probably 32-bit. But there are several ways to tell.
Here's an easy one: hold down the Windows key, and press Pause/Break.
If you're running 64-bit Windows it will tell you there.

How can I tell what my computers processing is?

Sorry, I don't understand that question. Please explain exactly what
you want to find out.

(I don't know where to look
in the control panel?).

Is it possible to install a Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade and then the
Windows 7 Upgrade from a Windows XP (Home Premium) system?

Yes, but you are significantly the risk of problems with upgrades.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snip>

1) Start/Run Winver. If it doesn't say 64 bit, you have 32 bit. If you
have the 64 bit version of XP, you would surely know as it
takes a separate license and separate CD.

Sorry - winver has its uses, but 32 or 64-bit discovery is not one of them.

Your system properties in Vista or newer will let you know if you have
32-bit or 64-bit (right-click on "Computer", choose "properties", "General"
tab.) I think it works for XP as well - but is not quite as clear - since
XP only got a 64-bit version later in life.

 

[Just Me]

I am running Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit. But typing Start/Run winver
doesn't tell me that.

I have Vista Home Premium and winver doesn't say it is 64 bit, which
it is.

 

[Doum]

How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit?

How can I tell what my computers processing is? (I don't know where to
look in the control panel?).

Is it possible to install a Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade and
then the Windows 7 Upgrade from a Windows XP (Home Premium) system? I
still hav not installed my Vista Upgrade, and may get the 7 Upgrade
since boxing day is comming and the 7's are going to be on sale.

Thank you.

If you upgrade directly from XP to Seven (using an Upgrade Retail version
of Seven), Seven will do a clean install and you will have to reinstall
all your programs and you should definitively save your important data to
CD or external hard disk before proceeding. That's the way I would do it.

However, if you upgrade from XP to Vista and then to Seven, it should
work without erasing everything. I read somewhere that you don't even
have to activate Vista for that procedure to work, I would personnally do
it only on a very stable and trouble free XP installation.

YMMV

 

[VanguardLH]

How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit? How can I tell what my
computers processing is? (I don't know where to look in the control
panel?).

<snip - separate upgrade issue>

Are you asking a hardware or software (OS) question?

So what does "system" mean? You never did indentify what version of Windows
you have now. You asked what your system *is* (not what it might be later).
If "system" meant just your hardware, it might be time to look at the
purchase order to see what you bought. CPU-Z will tell you what processor
you have (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php). Knowing what CPU you have gives a
big hint on whether or not your hardware is 64-bit capable. Knowing the
brand and model of your motherboard also helps.

If you are asking a hardware question, the folks in a hardware group might
be a better resource.

 

[VanguardLH]

I am running Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit. But typing Start/Run winver
doesn't tell me that.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/32-bit-64-bit-faq.aspx

 

[Daave]

How do I tell if my system is 32-bit or 64-bit?

How can I tell what my computers processing is? (I don't know where
to look in the control panel?).

Is it possible to install a Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade and
then the Windows 7 Upgrade from a Windows XP (Home Premium) system? I
still hav not installed my Vista Upgrade, and may get the 7 Upgrade
since boxing day is comming and the 7's are going to be on sale.

Short answer:

If you don't know, then you're running Windows XP 32-bit. To confirm,
right-click on My Computer and look at the General tab. If you were
running 64-bit Windows, you would see the following words:

Windows XP Professional x64

To answer your other question, although it is possible (and more
expensive) to perform an in-place upgrade to Windows Vista and then
*another* in-place upgrade to Windows 7, it is not recommended.

*If* your hardware is robust enough to handle Windows 7, then the
Windows 7 Upgrade CD can be used to perform a Clean Install, which is
the recommended route.

To see if your PC is capable of running Windows 7, you may look at this
page:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

FWIW, Windows XP will continue to be in "extended support" through
2014...

 

[ozzie]

Start/Right click./Computor/Properties/ That should tell you your Processor
RAM and OS.. in Vista and Win7 not sure about XP

ozzie

1) Start/Run Winver. If it doesn't say 64 bit, you have 32 bit. If you
have the 64 bit version of XP, you would surely know as it takes a separate
license and separate CD.

2) Yes, but that seems a bit circuitous. Since I am running XP, that is
all
of the advice I should give (maybe more than I should give).

I am running Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit. But typing Start/Run winver
doesn't tell me that.

 

[Brian V]

Thanks everyone. My question is at the bottom part.

I have 32-bit. I looked in the My computer - properties (I was going through
the control panel though to System).

XP upgrade to Vista to 7 is understood that XP is the foundation and can be
shakey. I get why you are talking about a clean install to erase everything
and start fresh. I remember being told about this years ago by a tech guy I
saw occasionally. One upgrade is ok. He said stuff about instability,
patches, updates, etc and sometimes it can't be relied on. Crashes equal 3
installs again, not one.

On my Vista upgrade box, it says 32-bit. It also says inside there is a way
to get the 64-bit version on dvd-rom.

I have an: AMD Athlon 64 X Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.01 GHz. is what I
wanted to know. I just didn't get the 64 X. I'm looking for the 2.01 GHz (?)
I think. Some products system requirements talk about 700 MHz processores (or
more) for example. I need to be sure about a few programs and I'm planning on
upgrading the RAM and hard-disk space for now. The motherboard can wait, the
processor may be changed at a later date, or I'll have to buy a new computer
then. Just some music making, and video editing programs and music archiving
here.

So what's the GHz or MHz? is it 2.01GHz or 128 (64 x 2?). My Vista upgrade
needs 800MHz processor.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Why did you being 2 new threads about this?

 

[Paul]

Thanks everyone. My question is at the bottom part.

I have 32-bit. I looked in the My computer - properties (I was going through
the control panel though to System).

XP upgrade to Vista to 7 is understood that XP is the foundation and can be
shakey. I get why you are talking about a clean install to erase everything
and start fresh. I remember being told about this years ago by a tech guy I
saw occasionally. One upgrade is ok. He said stuff about instability,
patches, updates, etc and sometimes it can't be relied on. Crashes equal 3
installs again, not one.

On my Vista upgrade box, it says 32-bit. It also says inside there is a way
to get the 64-bit version on dvd-rom.

I have an: AMD Athlon 64 X Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.01 GHz. is what I
wanted to know. I just didn't get the 64 X. I'm looking for the 2.01 GHz (?)
I think. Some products system requirements talk about 700 MHz processores (or
more) for example. I need to be sure about a few programs and I'm planning on
upgrading the RAM and hard-disk space for now. The motherboard can wait, the
processor may be changed at a later date, or I'll have to buy a new computer
then. Just some music making, and video editing programs and music archiving
here.

So what's the GHz or MHz? is it 2.01GHz or 128 (64 x 2?). My Vista upgrade
needs 800MHz processor.

2GHz or 2000MHz is the speed of your dual core processor.

To compare that to other hardware, the 2GHz Athlon64 core gives an equivalent performance
to a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor.

Which means your processor is still useful for everyday things. And
2000 or 3000 is faster than the 700 MHz you referred to.

Paul

 

[Paul]

2GHz or 2000MHz is the speed of your dual core processor.

To compare that to other hardware, the 2GHz Athlon64 core gives an
equivalent performance
to a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor.

Which means your processor is still useful for everyday things. And
2000 or 3000 is faster than the 700 MHz you referred to.

Paul

Also, Acer aren't likely to address your upgrade options. The
BIOS could be a deciding factor (sometimes a BIOS will fail
to POST, if a more modern processor is present). Pre-built
computers don't normally come with detailed upgrade charts.
But a computer you build from scratch, that comes with the
info needed.

This chart would give you an example of the upgrade info that
comes with a retail motherboard purchase. One of the pieces of info
here, is the power level the motherboard supports. This board happens to
support the installation of a 6400+ 125W processor. This motherboard
is the same era as your E380 computer.

http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2NPV-VM

Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (CZ),2MB,rev.F3,125W,SocketAM2 ALL 1001

The VCore circuit on some motherboards, don't support 125W processors. The
motherboard may be limited to 89W or 95W. In some cases, you have to be
careful not to overload the VCore circuit with an upgrade. And that is
why having an upgrade chart is gold, with respect to putting in another
processor.

This one has a three phase converter.

http://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asus/m2npv-vm/board.jpg

The E380 motherboard seems to be similar, except the coils are
a different design. They look a bit smaller. You actually have more
MOSFETs on yours, four per phase. While the Asus has three MOSFETs
per phase.

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5561/dsc00315ys7.jpg

A safe upgrade, might be something like this 5600+. It is the
fastest 65W processor in the list.

Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (DO),1MB,rev.G2,65W,SocketAM2

( Could be this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103279 )

This would be another alternative, but this is 89W.

Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (DO),1MB,rev.G2,89W,SocketAM2

The only 6000+ I could find, is the 125W one. I don't see
the 89W one on Newegg. This would be the 89W one. ADA6000IAA6CZ or ADA6000CZBOX

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 X2 6000+ - ADA6000IAA6CZ (ADA6000CZBOX).html

The 89W one is available on one site from Pricewatch. $78. No heatsink.

http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=1044

And this is a 125W one - ADX6000IAA6CZ

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103772

If a processor purchase says it is "OEM", that means it
doesn't come with a new cooler. A "Retail" processor comes
with a cooler. If you were moving from a 65W processor to a
125W processor, you'd want a new cooler. If you were moving
from just about any processor, to a 65W OEM one, you could
reuse the cooler you've already got. After market coolers
are also available for a fee, and some of those can handle
a 140W processor from a cooling perspective.

I'd hold off on upgrading, until you've determined it is
really necessary.

*******

For someone with as many upgrade objectives as you've got, I
think building a box from scratch would be more fun. The
advantage is, you leave your current, working computer alone.
Build up the new one. Move the monitor over and test it. If
it doesn't work, move the monitor back to the original computer,
then call for help

Paul