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End of NVIDIA Driver Support for 32-bit Operating Systems

froggyboy604

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After Release 390, NVIDIA will no longer release drivers for 32-bit operating systems1 for any GPU architecture. Later driver release versions will not operate, nor install, on 32-bit operating systems.

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I imagine the number of 32Bit operating system users are becoming less common since most new PCs are sold with Windows 64 bit operating systems.

I wonder if 32bit OS users will switch to AMD video cards which still support 32bit opetating systems.

I think games release in the future may have problems playing in 32bit operating systems if they require a newer version of the Nvidia driver in the future, or a newer Nvidia video card which needs a newer driver which is 64bit-only.
 
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To be honest, I think that it about time that it happened. As far as switching to AMD I think that it pointless since AMD could do the same thing.
 
AMD have good video cards which support 32bit OS.

If you are still using a slower and older Nvidia card or Intel Onboard graphics, and using a Windows or Linux 32 Bit OS, upgrading to a AMD video card would be a better idea than buying a Nvidia video card which is no longer supporting 32Bit Operating Systems.

One of the advantages of 32Bit OS is that the OS uses less RAM, and CPU resources, so they can run well on PCs with 1 GB or less RAM depending on the OS. Windows 7 and other 32bit Windows OS minimum RAM requirement is 1GB. But, the 64Bit version of most Windows needs 2GB of RAM except Windows XP and Vista 64 bit which can run on 1GB RAM.
 
is there still 32 bit os still being used with newer w10 os?
 
Demon_Skeith said:
is there still 32 bit os still being used with newer w10 os?
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I still have a computer which is using Windows 10 Fall Creator 32bit.

PCs with 1GB to 3GB RAM usually use Windows 32bit because the 32bit version of Windows minimum RAM requirement is 1GB RAM. Users with under 4GB of RAM can run into more slowdown problems if they use the 64bit version of Windows.
 
Arch, Ubuntu, Manjaro, and an ever growing list of other Linux distributions have quit their 32-bit support already, it surprises me Windows 10 still supports it.
 
SuwakoMoriya said:
Arch, Ubuntu, Manjaro, and an ever growing list of other Linux distributions have quit their 32-bit support already, it surprises me Windows 10 still supports it.
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Microsoft may think there will be fewer Windows 10 users if they quit 32bit support. Windows is also more system resource intensive, and upgrading to a new 64bit version of Windows may cause software compatibility problems with people who play older games, and use older programs or internet explorer ActiveX. There are cheaper old computers with a maximum RAM limit of 2GB of RAM on the motherboard. Some PCs and tablets have 1GB RAM of built-in RAM on circuit board which is non-upgradeable.

There may also be some users who are more cautious of upgrading to a Windows 64bit version of Windows 10 because most of their programs are 32bit programs, and they are afraid 32bit programs ran in a 64bit version of Windows does not run as well.

A lot of people on Windows 7 and 8.1 32bit may not upgrade to Windows 10 64bit when they find out they need to do a clean install of Windows 10 64bit, and reinstall Windows, all their programs, and change their settings.

A lot of people who use an older computer with a 32bit version of Windows 7, 8.1, Vista, XP, and 2000 may not have enough RAM, and free storage space to install Windows 10 64bit. I think 16bit programs can still run in Windows 32bit OS, but not on 64bit Windows OS.

Windows 10 64bit also needs at least 2GB of RAM as the minimum recommended amount of RAM instead of 1GB or less for Windows 10 32bit.

The 64bit version of Windows 10 also need 20GB of free storage space instead of 16GB of free space for installing Windows 10.
 
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Demon_Skeith said:
naturally, hopefully they will work on compressing OS size in the future.
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Unfortunately, I feel the OS size will be bigger in the future because of Windows Updates for the many security vulnerabilities which are sometimes built-into the hardware like the latest Intel CPU security vulnerabilities.
 
froggyboy604 said:
Unfortunately, I feel the OS size will be bigger in the future because of Windows Updates for the many security vulnerabilities which are sometimes built-into the hardware like the latest Intel CPU security vulnerabilities.
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Well both 32 and 64bit software both grow anyway, so that point IMO is moot.
 
Danielx64 said:
Well both 32 and 64bit software both grow anyway, so that point IMO is moot.
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This is true. But, 32bit software may sometimes grow slower because most computers with Windows 32bit OS are usually slower, and have less free storage space, so some 32bit software maybe designed for computers with slower CPUs and less storage space.
 
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