Vista 32 bit and 64 bit

[derek-the-bomb]

What exactly is the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit vista.Also in my next build(also my first) I plan on having 4 gigs of dual channel ram and a 2.55ghz quad core proccesor.Which system will I need?And would I be able to run vista well?

[EzyStvy]

This question has been asked many times before

The main difference a typical user will notice between the two->
32bit can only use 3 to 3.2 or so gigs of ram.
64bit can use all 4 gigs and up.

[Dave21]

Originally Posted by derek-the-bomb What exactly is the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit vista.Also in my next build(also my first) I plan on having 4 gigs of dual channel ram and a 2.55ghz quad core proccesor.Which system will I need?And would I be able to run vista well?

4 gb of ram will be sufficient to run vista. So you shouldn't have to worry about problems there. However, vista does have gui lag that I noticed sometimes. But nothing to worry about. If you go 64 bit, make sure your current software and hardware supports it.

[Larix8]

okay I am confused, the difference sticky at top says 64-bit hardware with Vista 32-bit will support up to 8gib RAM. Is that true?

[Finkel]

Vista 32-bit supports only up to 4 gigs of ram where as the 64-bit version supports more. The 64-bit requires applications to be compatible with it. I wouldn't really suggest it unless you know what your doing. Some Applications only work on the 32-bit application. Unless something has changed recently it's not mainstream.

[Strider]

Some of your older programs and that I mean old computers that would run on Windows 98 or before probably won't work or probably will have to be updated before it does. I say in a year or two 64 bit OSes will be relatively painless and even now they're not as bad as some people are saying. I just built a newer computer and I plain on dual boot that computer between Windows XP and Windows Vista 64 premium, once I get Vista 64 running the way I want it I'll probably ditch XP.

Here's a good tutorial on how to do a dual boot computer : http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vi...ots.htm?page=1

Even if you go the 32-bit route now you can always decide to the 640bit route in the future, of course that's considering you have a 64-bit cpu (which most cpu's nowadays are).