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May 4th, 2009, 07:29 GMT · By

Windows 7 System Requirements

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With the availability of the Release Candidate for Windows 7, Microsoft has also made public the system requirements for the operating system. The good news? Users who have already moved to a Windows Vista-tailored machine will not need to upgrade their hardware yet again just to accommodate Windows 7. In fact, the system
requirements for the next iteration of Windows are roughly the same as for its precursor, with Beta testers indicating that Windows 7 outperforms Windows Vista on the same hardware.

Without further ado, the System Requirements for Windows 7 are “1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor; 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit); 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit); DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver,” according to Microsoft.

The Redmond company emphasizes that the system requirements presented above represent the bare minimum required to run Windows 7. Want more performance from your Windows 7? Then you will simply have to add on top of the minimum hardware configuration required to run the operating system. Unlike Vista, Windows 7's Windows Experience Index goes all the way up to 7.9, a score ready to reflect the horsepower of machines with multi-core processors, solid state disks, high-end graphics cards, and 4+ GB of system memory.

What is important to note is the fact that if the system requirements are good enough for the Release Candidate of Windows 7 they are good enough for the RTM. Microsoft will not change the minimum hardware configuration for Windows 7 between RC and release to manufacturing. At the same time, the system requirements presented are valid for all editions of Win7, be them low-end or high-end SKUs.

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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: MJ on 04 May 2009, 07:46 UTC reply to this comment

can anyone explain that >>> 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit); why ? it means like 32 better than 64 ?

Comment #1.1 by: Brad on 04 May 2009, 17:45 GMT

No. 64bit is for the newer 4GB+ computers/amd's. 64bit needs larger requirements because of bigger .dll's and other things.

2GB and under go 32bit.

4GB and up need 64bit. (And a 64bit processor).


Comment #2 by: Saletra PL on 04 May 2009, 09:30 UTC reply to this comment

No, if you're planning to install a 32-bit processor, you should put 1 GB of RAM in your machine, if you choose 64-bit processor you have to install at least 2 GB of RAM


Comment #3 by: nenad on 04 May 2009, 10:00 UTC reply to this comment

2 gigs for an OS!
gimme a break


Comment #4 by: e-t-c on 04 May 2009, 10:56 UTC reply to this comment

"7 GB kindergarden bloatware" again - for me a reason to keep on 1GB XP Classic ;o)


Comment #5 by: yas on 04 May 2009, 13:00 UTC reply to this comment

wow. 2gb ram needed. hectic


Comment #6 by: Brad on 04 May 2009, 17:48 UTC reply to this comment

1GB for 32bit and 2GB for 64bit? More like 2gb, and 3gb bit its all good :).

My laptop (Intel Core Solo 1.86ghz, Intel 945GM, 80GB HD, 1GB memory). Just meets the requirements. But because Windows 7 is leaner then Vista (no memory leaks) there is no issue :).

Can't wait till tomorrow for RC to come out.


Comment #7 by: egil on 04 May 2009, 21:55 UTC reply to this comment

1gb ram for 32-bit!
Why would you even choose the 64-bit version if you have under 3gb of RAM??


Comment #8 by: War10ck on 04 May 2009, 23:04 UTC reply to this comment

However its working flawlessly in many sys.
which 've config. oF
Intel C2D 1.66GHz (80GB storage n 512 DDR2 RAM)
Intel Mob. 945 Grap. Chipset.



(*Tested overloading of third party softwares....)





*Note: (WinAmp,RealPlayer,KMPLayer,NeroProducts,PhotoshopCS4,K-LiteCODEC,Opera,iTunes,Safari,FireFoX,ISOBuster,CCProxy,VisualStudio08sp1,xampp,office,VLC,FileZilla,VMWareWorkstation)

:-)

Comment #8.1 by: Ernest on 09 May 2009, 13:56 GMT

what did you run on you're VMWare???


Comment #9 by: Manjunath on 17 Aug 2009, 05:17 UTC reply to this comment

I have a laptop of 512 DDR ram AMD 64 X2, can i install Windows 7


Comment #10 by: christian on 13 Nov 2009, 17:51 UTC reply to this comment

i have my desktop
amd athlon II x2 2.8ghz
1gb ram
1gb/128bit geforce vc

i will use the 32bit but what would be the effect in terms of games and application compatibility?
or will it affect may adobe cs3 because i only have a gb of ram?
coz i know cs3 and cs4 are using big % of ram.
thanks fellows..

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