WIndows 7: 32 bit (x32) or 64 bit (X64) for VST Synths / DAW ?

[jdnz]

Instead buying more than 4GB RAM better buy an SSD HD, believe me....

the cost/performance of SSD doesn't do it for me currently - I'm waiting for more hybrid drives like the sagate momentus XT to come out (something like the XT but in 3.5" form factor and with 2tb capacity would be perfect)

And even with 32bit >4gb can be useful since you can do the PAE patch (to allow win7 32-bit to use up to 8gb) and then also add the increaseuserVA option to allow each process to have up to 3gb (though if you host supports running plugins in separate processes the later isn't so helpful)

the thing that will drive me to proper 64-bit next time I rebuild with be the real memory hogs (photoshop espec - even with both those tweaks cs5 can struggle for ram on monster projects)

[Shangsean]

Pretty much what other people said. Look at what plug-ins you use and make sure you can get the 64bit version, plus the 64bit drivers for hardware.

From my own experience, I just recently had a hard drive die while I was running 32bit Windows 7 (had been running it for 3 years) and already had 6gig installed. Obviously I couldn't access all the ram, so I decided to install 64bit windows 7. For me it's been running great. I used to get a lot of crashes using Reaper, probably 3-5 crashes per recording session. I haven't had 1 crash since I updated to 64bit. Now, luckily most of the important plug-ins I was using have a 64bit version.

It's been good for me because I had so many free vsts sitting in my plug-ins folder that I barely used. Now I'm a little bit more restricted on what I can use, so it's made me concentrate more on my key vsts and it's improved my workflow.

I mainly use:
Ozone 5
Alloy
Guitar Rig 5
Absynth 5
EZmix
EZdrummer
Superior Drummer
Galaxy X + Epic World
DCAM Synth Squad (currently 32bit, but I'm running the 64bit beta version with no issues)
Kirnu
Camel Phat and Camel Space
Garritan Personal Orchestra 4 (haven't reinstalled it yet though)

The only paid vst I own that isn't 64bit at the moment is Circle, but they're working on a 64bit version. I've decided not to bridge any plug-ins because I really value stability at the moment, though it may work fine.

That's just my personal experience. It may be completely different for others.

By the way, my processor is an i7.

[ford442]

Win 7 is GREAT for DAW work - no reason to limit yourself to 32 bits.

SSD is a MUST HAVE these days for building a fast PC - i had no idea - my next pc will have one for certain - it makes EVERYTHING lightning fast. installing, booting, launching, copying, saving, opening, loading.. it all goes incredible amounts faster with an SSD - i would say - test a pc running with 512mb RAM vs 12gb with no SSD and the 512 computer would boot faster, launch DAW faster and load all plugins faster..

so, i suggest that anyone who is upgrading should consider a relatively small SSD for OS, apps, and some samples then keep a traditional hard drive for storage purposes.. hard disks top out at around 100MB/sec i find - whereas today's SSDs are more like 500MB/sec and never have to spin up or seek for data.. take some of the money that you would have once spent on SDRAM and dedicated video and add an SSD!!!