Windows 7 Survival Guide: From 32 To 64 Bit Drivers

This article shares good advice regarding the migration from 32 bit to 64 bit drivers to take advantage of improved addressability and performance in the Windows 7 environment.  This advice particularly applies for systems with more than 3GB of RAM.  It's important to research special devices to see if the vendors offer 64 bit versions on older hardware. 

Windows 7 Survival Guide: From 32 To 64 Bit
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219401497

QUOTE: Your old hardware isn't doomed. Here's how to migrate 32-bit printers and scanners onto your 64-bit version of the Windows 7 operating system.

Windows as a whole -- Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and the operating system's server editions -- has been shipping in both 32- and 64-bit editions for some time now. That's more than long enough for hardware manufacturers to get on the ball and supply 32/64-bit device drivers for everything they sell.

Why 64-bit, Anyway? -- Why use 64-bit Windows in the first place? Desktop machines that ship with more than 3GB of RAM also come with 64-bit Windows installed by default. It's the best possible way to make use of all that memory efficiently. Individual 32-bit apps may only be able to use so much of that memory at once, but those of us who run a lot of apps side-by-side get a boost from it. Also, applications that perform certain kinds of processing -- encryption, for instance -- run markedly faster as 64-bit binaries.