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I currently run Windows 8 (32 bit) and am building a pretty nice new gaming rig: i5, GTX970, 8GB of RAM, etc. However, instead of dropping money on the 64-bit version of Windows 8, I'm considering just waiting for Windows 10 to release next year.

From what I understand, I should be able to just move my current HDD to the new PC, update some drivers, and be good to go. But what kind of performance hit will I be dealing with until Windows 10 comes out?

Will I effectively only have 2GB of RAM or is the 2GB limit per program? And are there any other limitations I'll face before I move up to a 64-bit OS? If I wanted to play a resource intensive game, like Shadow of Mordor, would it still run well? Thanks!

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  • The key is same for 32 and 64-bit version. Just download a 64-bit Windows installer and use
    – phuclv
    Nov 21, 2014 at 19:36

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I currently run Windows 8 (32 bit) and am building a pretty nice new gaming rig: i5, GTX970, 8GB of RAM, etc. However, instead of dropping money on the 64-bit version of Windows 8, I'm considering just waiting for Windows 10 to release next year. From what I understand, I should be able to just move my current HDD to the new PC, update some drivers, and be good to go.

That is a logical way to do things provided you have a non-oem copy of Windows 8, or you will run into transfer issues since OEM copies are licensed to a specific computer, and cannot be transfered.

what kind of performance hit will I be dealing with until Windows 10 comes out?

You will not be able to use your full ram, nore run 64bit software. This shouldn't be an issue unless you need a specific 64bit application, because 32bit programs are built for systems 3.5GB or less ram in mind.

Will I effectively only have 2GB of RAM or is the 2GB limit per program?

You will be limited to 3.5GB of ram total, and each process will be limited to a max of 2GB.

are there any other limitations I'll face before I move up to a 64-bit OS?

Nope, all covered, if you were running Windows 7 then you'd be limited to BIOS mode/MBR partition tables, but since you are running Windows 8 32bit you can boot with EFI/GPT.

If I wanted to play a resource intensive game, like Shadow of Mordor, would it still run well?

I'm not familiar with the games, but if they are availble in 32bit then they should be able to run well; if they don't it's likely not related to 32bit vs 64bit, but rather one of your hardware compoents like graphics, cpu clock-rate, or storage device (hard drive vs ssd).

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For starters, You will not be able to utilize the 8GB RAM. 32bit Operating Systems currently limit RAM allocation to 4GB. The most RAM you will have available is 4GB, less for shared memory resources for hardware devices. For programs, the most available is a 2GB limit per program unless if it has the support for /LARGEADDRESSAWARE. (cf: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/639540/how-much-memory-can-a-32-bit-process-access-on-a-64-bit-operating-system). The system may choke on the game if RAM requirement is not fulfilled.

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