"Mike Walsh" wrote in message
...


Amiman wrote:

Can anyone please tell me if 64-bit software will run on
32-bit hardware ?

It won't run.

The reason I'm asking is that I (and probably thousands of
others) want to buy a new computer now, but either do not
want to or cannot afford to invest in a 64-bit machine right
now. But many of us have to hang on to the same machine
(albeit with some upgrades) for at least a few years and
we wouldn't want to be stuck with something that will be
totally incapable of running 64-bit games and apps that
will be released in the foreseeable future.

It will be a few years before 64 bit OSs become common and a few years
after that before 64 bit applications become common.

Thanks. With current games and apps, what kind of difference
in performance should be expected between an Athlon XP
2600+ on an nForce2 motherboard and an AMD64 2800+
on a K8V mobo, all other things being equal ?