Compatibility of 64-bit Windows 7 and your PC

Q As soon as my copy of Windows 7 Home Premium arrives, I plan to do a fresh install of the 64-bit version onto a brand new 1TB Samsung F1 hard disk. At the moment I’m using 32-bit Windows Vista with 4GB of DDR2 memory but since I use demanding software and games, I may need more memory in the future.

My processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, my motherboard is an MSI Q35MDO, which will support up to 8GB of memory and my video card is an ATI Radeon HD4650.

Am I likely to have any problems with 64-bit?

David Keane

A From the specification you quoted, you should not have any problems with 64-bit Windows 7. The hard disk will not be an issue, although you will need 64-bit Windows 7 drivers for your graphics card from ATI’s website.

Your processor will definitely support 64-bit, and will not need any additional drivers, while the motherboard you mention uses Intel’s Q35 Express chipset, for which MSI has 64-bit Windows 7 drivers available.

The main problems you are likely to encounter will be with old peripherals you might own such as printers or older software. If a piece of hardware or software still does not work with Windows Vista, it’s unlikely to work with either the 32-bit of 64-bit versions of Windows 7.

If you see a Certified For Windows 7 sticker on a new peripheral, according to Microsoft guidelines it has to be tested as being 64-bit compatible.

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