Windows Vista - What Version to get?

jpd1977uk · 31 May 2008 at 10:40

I'm thinking of getting Windows Vista... What version do I need?

Vista Home Premium SP1 32-Bit - OEM
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM

I'm only going to use Internet/eMail (IncrediMail), Playing games (SimCity Societies, SimCity4, The Sims 2, Star Trek Legacy, Need for Speed ect), MS Word/Excel ect.

Hardware:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2)
Memory: GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit. (Going to upgrade to 4GB)
Motherboard: Asrock ALiveSATA2-GLAN (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2
Video Card: Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI PCI-Express
HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (WD2500AAKS)

Glaucus · 31 May 2008 at 10:41

always go 64bit. unless you are using legacy programs, but you wont be.

1337z0r · 31 May 2008 at 11:30

64bit for sure, espeically if your upgrading too 4GB soon. Just make sure you have 64bit drivers for all your hardware, but most the time a lot of things just work out the box with out the need for drivers.

rudeboymcc · 31 May 2008 at 12:14

just out of interest, if it was 2gb memory without the upgrade would you still recommend 64 bit?

Glaucus · 31 May 2008 at 12:18

rudeboymcc said:
just out of interest, if it was 2gb memory without the upgrade would you still recommend 64 bit?

even with 2gb I would still go 64bit. Why would you go anything else 64bit vista has many more advantages than just 4+GB of ram. Your cpu is 64bit, *** future is 64bit. It makes no sense going 32bit unless you know you have a 16bit application or no 64bit drivers for your hardware.

LeperousDust · 31 May 2008 at 13:00

THey'll work the same, and 64bit is a better option in case you still want to use Vista x years down the line when 32bit finally seems dated (although admitedly that could be a while!)