Moving to 64bit from 32bit in Win 7

[Bill Buxton 1147498]

FSX Acceleration has run fine on my 32bit system both in Vista and now Windows 7. I recently added a payware aircraft with a FMC, Active Weather, a flight planner and some scenery which don't play well together. I have read that a 64 bit system will allow access to the 4 GB of memory I have installed and solve my OOM problems. My research shows that my processor and mobo are 64 bit capable and I have the 64 bit win7 disk.

 

I would describe my computer skills as just good enough to be "dangerous". That means I want to go ahead and do the upgrade because nothing bad could happen.

 

Has anyone done this? Any suggestions?

 

 

Case Antec 900

Power Supply Corsair CMPSU 520W

Mother Board ASUS P5KC Intel P35 ATX

CPU Intel Core 2 Q6600 @2.40GHz

CPU Cooler Arctic Freezer 7 Pro

RAM Corsair XMS2 4 GB (2x2) DDR2

HD Western Digital WD250 AAKS x 2

OS Windows 7 Home Premium

Video Card eVGA GeForce 8800

Flight Simulator FSX Acceleration

 

Bill Buxton

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

Your components look good, although the gfx card is a bit old. The upgrade should go fine, although I would recommend reformatting and making it a fresh install.

[Charan Kumar]

If you indeed replace or upgrade your gfx card or add memory, remember to get a new PSU. 520W will make do but won't stand long.

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

If you indeed replace or upgrade your gfx card or add memory, remember to get a new PSU. 520W will make do but won't stand long.

 

I'll second that. I just had to replace mine as it lost capacity.

[Bill Buxton 1147498]

I will back up my files to a storage device and do a clean install. There are many video cards out there. Is any one extra good at handling the demands of flight simulation? I thought 520W was a strong power supply.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

Well, the thing with power supplies is there are three things you should consider. Wattage, amperage and overall quality. For wattage you need to calculate your computers peak demand(there are some tools online that can do it) and add 30% if you plan on keeping it for a few years(they lose capacity over time). For amperage you need to check your parts for amperage demands. This will be listed in the specs as xxA on xxV. This refers to how amperage it needs on what rails. For example, I have a GTS 250. This requires 24A on the 12V rail. These specs are listed on the parts(most likely the GFX card) and the PSU.

 

For overall quality, just ensure it's from a reputable company.

 

Hope this helps