So... win7 32bit or 64 bit?

[Mivo]

By far the most people use whatever OS they get together with their computer. Looking at myself, I only actually bought two Windows versions: 3.0 (yes, .0, not .1) and W7 x64. All other versions came bundled with new machines (and re-used on newer boxes that weren't pre-built). It seems that a large majority of computers are now sold with W7 x64, so it's just a matter of time until that will be the relevant standard for gaming machines. Vista could have sped this up, but it was so bad that it really delayed things.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Most users still use a 32bit platform due to unawarness of the capabilities of contemporary hardware / software and the limitations of that platform or simply due to inability to afford an upgrade to what they're using.

Stats from Steam:

OS:
Windows XP 32 bit 31.49%
Windows 7 64 bit 29.62%
Windows Vista 32 bit 13.22%
Windows 7 12.82%
Windows Vista 64 bit 6.81%
MacOS 10.6.3 64 bit 4.13%
MacOS 10.5.8 64 bit 0.65%
Windows XP 64 bit 0.59%
Windows 2003 64 bit 0.28%
MacOS 10.6.4 64 bit 0.22%
Other 0.17%

Total 42.3% of Steam users currently have 64bit OS and that number is growing.

Auncien, 42% is pretty high (almost a full half) so I would not eliminate the possibility.

 

[deanej]

Most of the time there's little reason to use 32-bit if you have 64-bit capable hardware (and the only current computers that don't have 64-bit capable hardware are netbooks), but not always. For example, 64-bit Windows requires drivers to be signed. There are some stubborn developers (such as TI) that don't bother to get their drivers signed. Additionally, I have Sandboxie, and the 64-bit version is less secure because of Microsoft's Kernel protection (which can be circumvented easily, but the Sandboxie developer won't do it because it would make him a bad guy). 64-bit Sandboxie can't guarantee that a sandboxed process is truly isolated but 32-bit Sandboxie can.

 

[NBAfan]

64 Bit is the future, so it would be foolish not to get it.