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I have to install Windows 7 on two machines, but I'm not sure if I must pick Windows 7 version 32 bits or 64 bits for each of them. Here's what appears in my computer > properties:

  1. Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
  2. Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
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    Look, can you tell me the exact CPU model? You can have x86 and x64 Pentium 4 CPUs @3GHz models. If you have Intel P4 531 or 630 or 631 (all @3.00GHz) than you have x64 bit CPU. But I see no reason for having x64 OS on less than 4Gb of memory Oct 17, 2013 at 10:30
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    Also, take a look @Journeyman Geek post and download free CPU-Z to check for exact CPU models Oct 17, 2013 at 10:33

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Pentium D is better of those two. It's a dual-core vs. Pentium 4 single core, so regardless of what version of Intel pentium 4 you have (x64 or x86), it's faster. Pentium D Smithfield core (90nm) is actually 2x Pentium 4 Prescott cores, and Pentium D Presler core (65nm) is 2x Pentium 4 Cedar Mill cores

Anyway, I would suggest you to check the available memory as well. Minimum for Win 7 x86 is 1 GB, while for Win 7 x64 is 2 GB

If you don't have or you are not planning to use more than 3GB of RAM, I would strongly suggest you to go with the Windows x86, regardless of the CPU ability to work or not on x64 OS

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If you have more than 3.5 gb of ram, go with 64 bit - its almost certainly a 64 bit system.

A more scientific way to find out is to look up if your processor supports EMT64T - you can look this up on intel's website or use a suitable tool to find out - on windows you can use cpu-z

enter image description here

This is a 64 bit system and has the EMT64T instruction (AMD systems may have a AMD64 instruction)

If these are systems with no os, boot a linux livecd and use /proc/cpuinfo - you're looking for the lm flag under flags so grep -E lm /proc/cpuinfo should have no output on a 32 bit system, and spit out everything under 'flags' including an entry that says lm

The one on my VPS looks like this , and they're running a 64 bit xeon core.

flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon rep_good pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm

If you find that either tool tells you its 64 bit capable chances are you can run a 64 bit os, assuming you meet the other system requirements. Otherwise you will have to go for 32 bit.

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  • Journeyman: they have 2GB of RAM
    – drake035
    Oct 17, 2013 at 10:15

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