--- a/pandas/io/tests/test_parsers.py
+++ b/pandas/io/tests/test_parsers.py
@@ -3637,6 +3637,9 @@ class TestCParserLowMemory(ParserTests,
         self.assertEqual(result.dtype, ex_dtype)
 
     def test_precise_conversion(self):
+        import platform
+        if platform.architecture()[0] == '32bit':
+            raise nose.SkipTest("Known issue on 32bit platforms.  See GH #8646")
         # GH #8002
         tm._skip_if_32bit()
         from decimal import Decimal
