EggXpert

I'm building a new computer and can't decide which Vista OS to buy.....32 or 64 bit.  I surf the net do some gaming and video editing.  I will be using 4 gigs of memory and probably will not increase to 8 gigs. What are the advantages of one OS against the other?  Is 64 bit faster on booth up..... etc?

I don't think 64bit OS will speed up your system. just to make sure the apps you wanna use have good drivers for it. and 64bit will take full advantage of 4GB or more than 4GB memory. But I think 32bit Vista is okay. 3.25GB memory is sufficient for surfing,gaming and editing.

I believe you DO need a 64bit since you need video editing.

Vista usually eat more than 1.5 gigs memo, and video editing usually eat more, and 32bit only support no more that 3.25 gigs, so not enough.

For further consideration, choose a 64bit. Done.

If you can get 64 bit versions of the programs you plan to run then going with Vista x64 is the smart thing to do, IMO.  If you plan to run 32 bit software then either one will work fine.  Also, if you have older hardware you might find 64 bit drivers aren't available and in this circumstance you would have to replace them with newer hardware with the proper drivers.

I went with Vista 64 bit OS.  I also upgraded to 8 gigs of memory.  I don't believe I needed this much memory but in the future maybe.

If you are not planning on going to 8 GB RAM then 32 bit should be just fine.  I would make sure to have at least two decent hard drives as you need to have your video files on a different drive than the OS and at least a dual core processor. 

sarkley:

If you are not planning on going to 8 GB RAM then 32 bit should be just fine.  I would make sure to have at least two decent hard drives as you need to have your video files on a different drive than the OS and at least a dual core processor. 

A 32-bit OS wouldn't see about 4.75 Gigs of that memory Sark, so you'd surely want 64-bit with that much RAM.but not many programs can take advantage of 6-8 Gig of RAM, so it's a bit of overkill, maybe down the road. Some video editing apps utilize 4 cores rhough, thus a quad is a better option. But I first see what the specs are on your apps. You could very well be using a program that won't even use the extra memory or cores.

 

    Something to keep in mind is compatibility. If you are using it as a stand alone computer and can find compatible hardware drivers and software you are probably alright with the 64bit. If however you plan on networking it with other computers running different operating systems and share things like printers you might want to stay with 32 bit.. I just had a real fun time at the office trying to get printers to work on the 64 bit machine that were installed on other 32 bit machines. When you try to install on the 64 it says that the correct driver is not installed on the server machine. When you try to add the driver for  64 bit on the machine that has the 32 bit OS, it doesn't recognize it. Worked it out in the long run but certainly wasn't ideal.