should i step up to 64-bit?

i bought a retail copy of vista home premium 32-bit shortly after it came out. i built a new computer for myself in december, which is 64-bit capable.

the retail case for vista says i can call microsoft and order 64-bit, but is it really worth it? and i have another question, would i have to completely format the drive i wanted to install it on?

Well I dont see any point to upgrading to 64 bit from 32 bit vista,right now there isnt any software taking advantage of 64 bit processor yet. lets say in 4-5 year developer will be making more 64 bit software including games that will take advantage of 64 bit. if you have 2gb of ram right now right? unless ur planing on upgrading to 4gb of ram then I might suggest you get 64 bit version of vista and not to say there are some driver issue with vista 64 bit still, So basically if do get vista 64 bit and 4gb of ram you might have trouble overclocking your cpu because u r using 4 sticks of memory stick in your mother board putting more preasure on the mobo causeing more heat you might have to bump your North B voltage and cpu.

As for my self I do have both copys of vista ultimate 32 bit\64 bit.

Well I dont see any point to upgrading to 64 bit from 32 bit vista,right now there isnt any software taking advantage of 64 bit processor yet. lets say in 4-5 year developer will be making more 64 bit software including games that will take advantage of 64 bit. if you have 2gb of ram right now right? unless ur planing on upgrading to 4gb of ram then I might suggest you get 64 bit version of vista and not to say there are some driver issue with vista 64 bit still, So basically if do get vista 64 bit and 4gb of ram you might have trouble overclocking your cpu because u r using 4 sticks of memory stick in your mother board putting more preasure on the mobo causeing more heat you might have to bump your North B voltage and cpu.

As for my self I do have both copys of vista ultimate 32 bit\64 bit.

metroid_mario

You don't have to have 4 sticks of ram to have 4gbs. 2x2gb or 1x4gb (yes there's 4gb sticks now).

Here's a good article for those who want to differentiate actual perfmorance differences between 32 and 64 bit versions: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/15/vista_workshop/

what server would need 2TB of ram?!chronogamer27

what server would need 2TB of ram?!chronogamer27

You'd be very surprised. There are many that would benefit from it, like ISP web servers, massive domain controllers, and others. Of course, the benefit may not outweigh the cost...;)