Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-23, 23:30:

Jorpho wrote on 2021-05-23, 22:49:

Azarien wrote on 2021-05-23, 20:26:

There is one argument for using 32-bit Windows even if a 64-bit version would work on a given machine: better compatibility with older games, ie. fewer problems to solve.

Do you have specific examples in mind where 32-bit Windows 7/8/10 has better compatibility than 64-bit Windows 7/8/10? Other than 16-bit installer issues?

There was a thread about this at Retro pre Windows XP(non 16-bit) games which run on Windows 32-bit but not on 64-bit or vice versa which kind of went nowhere.

Networking ye olde systems ol been.

Are you saying now that 32-bit Windows 7/8/10 has networking capabilities that are missing in 64-bit Windows 7/8/10? (There is of course older networking hardware that wouldn't have 64-bit drivers, but that networking hardware wouldn't be any more capable than newer networking hardware. And that doesn't have anything to do with gaming, as M. Azarien suggests.)

Azarien wrote on 2021-05-23, 20:26:

There is one argument for using 32-bit Windows even if a 64-bit version would work on a given machine: better compatibility with older games, ie. fewer problems to solve.

Sure, if it’s originally shipped with a 32 bit OS and you are dealing with hardware that primarily ran on 32 bit drivers from the era, that’s a good idea. The same does not apply for more recent hardware. Intel graphics drivers from Kaby Lake onwards, for example, has no native win32 drivers. You can try and shoehorn the 32 bit Skylake UHD graphics drivers in, but the further you go from Skylake the less likely it is to work correctly. If you are planning to play some Battlefield 2142 on a Dell Latitude 7280, downgrading Windows to 32 bit will not make it run better.

Jorpho wrote on 2021-05-24, 03:38:

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-23, 23:30:

Jorpho wrote on 2021-05-23, 22:49:

Do you have specific examples in mind where 32-bit Windows 7/8/10 has better compatibility than 64-bit Windows 7/8/10? Other than 16-bit installer issues?

There was a thread about this at Retro pre Windows XP(non 16-bit) games which run on Windows 32-bit but not on 64-bit or vice versa which kind of went nowhere.

Networking ye olde systems ol been.

Are you saying now that 32-bit Windows 7/8/10 has networking capabilities that are missing in 64-bit Windows 7/8/10? (There is of course older networking hardware that wouldn't have 64-bit drivers, but that networking hardware wouldn't be any more capable than newer networking hardware. And that doesn't have anything to do with gaming, as M. Azarien suggests.)

Oh no, how would I ever get NBF/NetBEUI going with 64 bit Windows!