PMDG 737 and FSX on a 64bit OS vs 32bit OS

[andreadebiase 5]

Probably just by asking this you can infer that I am not a PC tech guru but i was wondering....... my understanding is that FSX  is an old 32bit program and was designed to work on a 32bit environment which means that does not use more than 4Gb of RAM. If this is true does it mean that if installed on XP (32bit) OS or Win7 OS (64bit) given everything else equal (let's say a very recent PC aka 64bit CPU and tons of RAM) will perform the same? in other words does the OS matter when it comes to the performance of FSX? 

This brings me to the next question: PMDG 737 works inside FSX and so does the same apply? does it matter much if the OS is XP 32 bit (which i already have) or Win 7 64bit (which i would need to buy)? just a thought....

thank you

Andrea De Biase

 

[aceridgey 330]

Hello!

 

Yes it will make a difference, especially if you're using fsx (not p3d which manages memory better).

 

Basically a 32bit operating system has a maximum of 4 gb to play with. If you run fsx as well it can only use some of the 4 gb to run the program, it also needs to run EVERYTHING else.

You really need to be on a 64bit operating system..

 

Have you considered windows 10? That's the operating system I would recommend

[Jimm 437]

The memory usage doesn't change between 32 and 64 bit OS.  It is the software that was programmed in 32 bit that dictates the 4gb memory usage, both for FSX and P3D.  Yes, running either sim on a 64 bit system would make a difference, but for performance in sim and VAS, you are still only using 4gb of memory.

 

-Jim

[downscc 1,327]

There could be a difference if you have on-board video or a card with limited memory, where the 32b limit has to be shared with the application and the video.  PMDG recommends 64b on their product pages for this and other reasons.

[andreadebiase 5]

got it, thank you guys

Andrea De Biase

[Luke 782]

If I recall correctly, assuming you boot with the /3GB flag you are limited to 3GB VAS on a 32-bit OS, or 2GB if you don't. On a 64-bit OS you get a full 4GB VAS per 32-bit process.

 

Cheers!

Luke

[ubersu 78]

In addition to the full 4GB allocation for your program, if you are running Win7 or later, you also get the advantage of a smaller OS footprint and driver footprint in your memory space. That means you get more of your allocation for your application. The OS also runs the drivers in user mode, so if a driver has an issue it can usually recover without taking the system down.

 

DJ