64 bit and 32 bit windows 7

[3dfabrique]

Hello all

 

does anyone have an answer for the following

 

I want to create a new partition on my hard disk to install windows 7 64bit (I've just done a fresh install of windows 7 32bit).

Having never done this before, I was wondering

 

 

1. will my .max files created in 32 bit be compatible with 64 bit and vice versa.

2. Will I be able to read from the 32 bit partition when running 64 bit windows, or will I have to have a double copy of my files on the new partition ?

3. what size to make the new partition ?

 

thanks

[Stephen Thomas]

Is there a reason you need both? If your system is 64-bit why would you want to run 32-bit Windows?

[John Dollus]

yes to numbers 1 and 2.

3 is rather up to you.

I, like Stephen, think something you're doing is amiss

When 32 bit apps install just as well with a 64 bit OS

 

-poetry by john

[Umesh Raut]

In simpler terms, 32 bit has one bottleneck, if you will, or limitation of 16GB memory maximum. And moreover, the modern 64 bit processor architecture is way much more efficient than 32bit (older) chips in many computing tasks including heavy number crunching like rendering; that's where the newer OS versions exploit it to users' benefits. Its always better to have and use x64, hence.

[Stephen Thomas]

16GB? I think you mean 4GB RAM limit.

[3dfabrique]

thanks for the replies

I've been using 32 bit for years. However I am now getting more ambitious with the complexity of some of my scenes. I'm therefore thinking of investing in a 64 bit capable software. (Stephan - I did try installing my 32 bit software on the 64 bit OS at first, but had problems getting all plugins to work - so I went back to 32 bit)

 

So in theory, the new partition just needs to be the size required for the 64 bit windows software ?

 

cheers

[Stephen Thomas]

Ah, see that's the mistake. You can install 64-bit and 32-bit version of max on a 64-bit OS at the same time, no need for two partitions!

[Dimitris Tolios]

The 32 and 64bit versions of Max produce identical files. There should be no issue sharing between the 2 platforms.

The only real limitation of 32bit versions is RAM utilization: due to Win kernel limitations, only 3.2GBs (not even 4) can be addressed by a single app (and that's with a registry mod tbh). Most apps won't even try to address more than 2GBs in 32bit windows.