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Can I change my Dimension 9200 from 32 bit to 64 bit?
I have bought Windows 7 Ultimate.
Can I change the operating system to 64 bit without changing any hardware? Is there any advantage in doing this?
What do I need to do to instal Windows 7.
My Dimension 9200 came with Media Centre Edition 2002. I have no disks, the machine did not ship with any. It currenly uses XP Professional Service pack 3, 32 bit.
Dual core processor is Intel Pentium D 3.40Ghz.. RAM is 3GB Kinsgton, I bought 4GB from Dell, but XP only ever recognised 3GB, I kept getting error messages so I took one set of 1GB chips out from slot 4 and the machine works fine.
Don't know what the motherboard is other than it is Microsoft ACPI compliant.
Drive C is the original 250Gb Samsung. Drive D is a 1TB Western Digital added later. Both are SATA
Dual display drivers are ATI Radeon X1300Pro. Sound is Creative SB X-Fi soundblaster. Built in is a Connexant 56k dial up modem (Broadband is an external modem via ethernet cable). Keyboard and mouse are USB. TV card is analogue, so doesn't receive any digital signal. It even has a floppy disk drive. All USB are USB 1.
tetrapackage
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June 20th, 2012 03:00
If your RAM is currently 4GB or up, it would be best to have your OS changed to 64-bit. Otherwise, leave it to 32-bit as it won't do any difference if you lack RAM.
fireberd
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June 20th, 2012 04:00
Dell supports Vista 64 bit on this model so you should be OK with Windows 7 64 bit as they both use the same device drivers.
However, as mentioned unless you have more than 4GB of RAM stay with the 32 bit version. The big plus for the 64 bit OS is that it will address more than 4GB of RAM.
Unless you need the features of the Ultimate (or Professional) versions of Windows 7, which are primarily aimed at business users, there is no need for anything other Home version. The Pro and Ultimate versions even require more minimum RAM memory.
RobinBredin
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June 20th, 2012 06:00
Also, to go from a 32 bit to 64 bit, you will have to do a clean install of win 7, so backup any personal data you want to import into win 7. If you want a XP disc for your system, click on my green sig, or buy one off ebay.