In 2023 Should I be using LabVIEW 32bit or 64bit.

[danny_t]

The general question has been asked a number of times but I was interested in understand where the consensus lies now in the latter part of 2023. 

I have and still do use LabVIEW 32bit, it is a habit for me. I remember there were various issues with some drivers and toolkits not being supported and having issues.

It always surprised me that NI not not parked LabVIEW 32bit and fully committed to the 64bit version going forward.

So I would love the hear what are people using and why.

cheers 

Danny

[wiebe@CARYA]

AFAIK, 64 bit supports almost anything in LV23 (not DCS maybe? and maybe language packs?).

I've been using 64 bit since at least LV18 (out of need for memory).

I think the official credo is use 64 bit unless there's a reason you can't.

Soon you won't have a choice anyway. 32 bit will be deprecated soon (LV24 IIRC).

32 bit and 64 bit should be able to run (be installed) side by side...

[Bob_Schor]

I have the opposite (well, maybe the same) philosophy as Wiebe -- "If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It".  I haven't had a need for a large memory model, so I'm sticking with 32-bit until it is fully replaced.  My colleagues all use 32-bit, there are some cases where 64-bit doesn't work (yet), so I stay compatible with myself and my colleagues ...

Bob Schor

[crossrulz]

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wiebe@CARYA wrote:

Soon you won't have a choice anyway. 32 bit will be deprecated soon (LV24 IIRC).

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I have not heard anything about time frame.  I do know that NI does want to deprecate 32-bit.  They just have to start getting people to use 64-bit.  As far as I am aware, a large majority of LabVIEW users still use 32-bit.  Now that RT, FPGA, and cRIO are available on 64-bit, I am switching to 64-bit.  I don't have the memory concerns.  I just like the idea of removing the WoW layer.

[thols]

"The LabVIEW 32-bit is our first recommendation":

https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000kIctSAE 

[wiebe@CARYA]

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@thols wrote:

"The LabVIEW 32-bit is our first recommendation":

https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000kIctSAE 

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"The LabVIEW 32-bit is our first recommendation since it can be installed and used on either 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems, and it has wider compatibility with Modules and Toolkits, as well as greater support for 3rd-party Add-Ons. 32-bit Modules and Toolkits cannot be used with 64-bit LabVIEW."

For all the wrong reasons though. 😂

I'd like to see someone try to install LV for Windows on a 32 bit OS...

They fixed the toolkit support.

3rd party support is a valid concern though. 32 bit dlls won't work and would need to be at least recompiled, replaced at worse.

EDIT: They keep stressing the benefits of 64 bit: Using NI Products on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows - NI

[Terry_ALE]

Since about 2019, my default has been 64-bit.

2018 was the first LabVIEW FPGA for 64-bit version.

There are exceptions though.

[thols]

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wiebe@CARYA wrote:

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3rd party support is a valid concern though. 32 bit dlls won't work and would need to be at least recompiled, replaced at worse.

EDIT: They keep stressing the benefits of 64 bit: Using NI Products on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows - NI

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Sorry to be misleading in my post. Didn't want to paste everything. 3rd party support is really the only thing left to consider I think, and it can be a showstopper.

I hadn't seen your EDIT-link before. Interesting.

[wiebe@CARYA]

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@thols wrote:

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wiebe@CARYA wrote:

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3rd party support is a valid concern though. 32 bit dlls won't work and would need to be at least recompiled, replaced at worse.

EDIT: They keep stressing the benefits of 64 bit: Using NI Products on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows - NI

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Sorry to be misleading in my post. Didn't want to paste everything. 3rd party support is really the only thing left to consider I think, and it can be a showstopper.

I hadn't seen your EDIT-link before. Interesting.

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I remember this from when we where forced from 16 to 32 bits 👴...

Luckily these transitions work exponential, so it's unlikely we'll witness the 64 to 128 bit transition in our lifetime.

32 bit will be deprecated, it's just way to expensive to maintain both without good (financial) reasons. The costs of keeping 32 bit will soon become more expensive than simply making 64 bit work properly. Note that NI doesn't need to consider our 3rd party dependencies.

Not sure where I heard the timeline of 32 bit deprecation. Could have made wrong conclusions...

Bing's AI gave all this info in one concise answer...😐

Spoiler

In my defense, there is a difference between 'official' and 'reality' 😁.

[danny_t]

Thanks everyone for some interesting replies and links.

I find it slightly disheartening the current situation, NI's seems to be saying use 64 bit LabVIEW, but there still may be some issues in doing so depending on your requirements.

I am guess this situation is another of the fallout costs of NXG which was going to be only 64bits and replace LabVIEW so there was no real need to deal with it in LabVIEW.