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Specification:

  • eMachines eM350-21G16i NAV51
  • RAM (Maxed): 1x2GB DDR2-667
  • CPU: Intel Atom N450

This computer came with XP. I have had Windows 7 32-bit running on it for years without issue. I now wish to install Windows 7 64-bit.

GRC SecurAble reports the following (borrowed from another question):

GRC SecurAble screenshot

The BIOS (InsydeH20 1.10 rev 3.5) provides no HAV/VMX/Virtualization options.

My questions are:

  1. Is HAV necessary for 64-bit Windows 7 to run, or just for VM/XP mode stuff (which I don't do)?
  2. Is there any point in installing 64-bit Windows 7 on a machine this under-powered?
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2 Answers 2

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  1. If you don't need visualization technology then just ignore it.

  2. Unless you want to run 64 bit software I don't see the need to upgrade. Most software come with both 32 bit and 64 bit versions but the trend is toward 64 bit only. The biggest advantage of 64 bit is that it can access more ram which you don't currently have installed . 32-bit Windows has an address space of 4 GB so if you had 8 GB it would not access the extra 4 GB.

  3. If the machine runs 32 bit without an issue 64 bit would not be an issue I have done many upgraded from 32 to 64 with no notable change of performance if you use an inplace upgrade instead of a full reinstall.

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  • What do you mean re. an "inplace upgrade"? You can't upgrade from 32-bit Windows to 64-bit Windows. You can install a 64-bit version on top of the existing 32-bit install, which replaces the latter; you can install a 64-bit version in another disk partition, giving you the two systems as boot-time options. But in all of those cases the result is a brand new installation of 64-bit Windows. You don't retain software installations, security ID, etc., from the 32-bit system. Of course you can upgrade Windows versions, e.g. Windows 7 to Windows 8, but you have to keep the same "bitness".
    – Jamie Hanrahan
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 7:08
  • ok searched for a 32bit version only have a 64bit version will test that once I get an all in one disk . I could swear I have ever done that in sys admin days . For your installations that you will lose as @JamieHanrahan POLITELY pointed out =) there are some things you can retain using Windows Easy Transfer this is a tutorial to retain the other settings such as user accounts , emails and etc raymond.cc/blog/downgrade-windows-7-64bit-to-32bit-x64-to-x86
    – arthur kay
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 18:52
  • This is going so far off topic, it's ridiculous. I asked two "yes/no" questions. The ability to "in-place upgrade" from 32-bit to 64-bit is entirely irrelevant.
    – Hugh.M
    Commented Apr 12, 2017 at 5:17
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There's probably no real benefit to running 64 bit on that machine - for most purposes 32 bit's good enough, especially with under 3.5gb of ram. Most common software is 64 bit or will run on either. If you need to ask, and on a machine with that specification for regular, low

VT-X (or the more common flavour of hardware virtualization) is only really needed for running 64 bit VMs in some software. You can run 64 bit without it sure, but anything that absolutely needs a 64 bit system shouldn't be running on an early model atom.

32 bit is good enough in most cases.

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  • "You can run 64 bit without it sure" This is all I needed in response to my first question.
    – Hugh.M
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 8:19

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