diff --git a/code/nel/include/nel/misc/types_nl.h b/code/nel/include/nel/misc/types_nl.h
index 2851759de..6431701fe 100644
--- a/code/nel/include/nel/misc/types_nl.h
+++ b/code/nel/include/nel/misc/types_nl.h
@@ -412,8 +412,16 @@ typedef	unsigned	int			uint;			// at least 32bits (depend of processor)
 #define NL_DEFAULT_MEMORY_ALIGNMENT 16
 #define NL_ALIGN_SSE2 NL_ALIGN(NL_DEFAULT_MEMORY_ALIGNMENT)
 
-#ifndef NL_CPU_X86_64
+#ifdef NL_CPU_X86_64
 // on x86_64, new and delete are already aligned on 16 bytes
+#elif (defined(NL_COMP_VC) && defined(NL_DEBUG))
+// don't use aligned memory if debugging with VC++ in 32 bits
+#else
+// use aligned memory in all other cases
+#define NL_USE_ALIGNED_MEMORY_OPERATORS
+#endif
+
+#ifdef NL_USE_ALIGNED_MEMORY_OPERATORS
 
 #ifdef NL_NO_EXCEPTION_SPECS
 extern void *operator new(size_t size);
@@ -425,9 +433,9 @@ extern void *operator new(size_t size) throw(std::bad_alloc);
 extern void *operator new[](size_t size) throw(std::bad_alloc);
 extern void operator delete(void *p) throw();
 extern void operator delete[](void *p) throw();
-#endif
+#endif /* NL_NO_EXCEPTION_SPECS */
 
-#endif
+#endif /* NL_USE_ALIGNED_MEMORY_OPERATORS */
 
 #else /* NL_HAS_SSE2 */
 
diff --git a/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp b/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp
index db605f4f1..599f3cfb2 100644
--- a/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp
+++ b/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ extern "C" long _ftol2( double dblSource ) { return _ftol( dblSource ); }
 #endif // !NL_COMP_MINGW
 
 
-#if defined(NL_HAS_SSE2) && !defined(NL_CPU_X86_64)
+#ifdef NL_USE_ALIGNED_MEMORY_OPERATORS
 
 #ifdef NL_NO_EXCEPTION_SPECS
 void *operator new(size_t size)