32 or 64bit?

[#1]

I've just ordered a used intel D525MW motherboard online.

Despite looking at intels pdf foe the board it doesn't mention if the cpu (merely referred to as atom) is 32 or 64bit. A glance on cpu world shows most as being 64bit but some being 32.

How do i tell the difference when it arrives? Can a 32bit os run on a 64 bit processor?

I'm not phased about it being 32 or 64bit feature wise (to me as long as it runs thats great) but it would be nice to know how long the board has left life and time wise.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

According to https://ark.intel.com/products/49490 the Atom 525 processor which is on the board has a 64 bit instruction set. That said it only supports 4G of memory.

A 32bit OS will run on a 64 bit processor, but will only access 3+G of memory.

Unless you have a specific requirement for a 32 bit system ( I have a couple of programmes that will not run on 64 bit windows) I would install the 64 bit version.

[#3]

Ah okay i didn't realise the 525 part in the board part number related to the processor itself. Thanks for that 

Looking at that page has made me feel optimistic about the board as I'd imagined it would be some really low end proccy but that looks pretty reasonable.