64 vista questions

Okay... what will it take to upgrade my 32 bit vista to 64? I saw the thread, but can I get a disc from microsoft with the 64 bit version on it, or do I need to order it? Also, will I have to do a clean install of it and then reinstall everything I've done? I was just thinking that it may be good to upgrade.

 

you will need to buy a x64 vista disc, and a clean install.

 

You can get the disc from MS only if you have retail license which you do not have if the OS came with AW (that is OEM license). So you end up purchasing a separate copy of Vista from MS (comes with both 32 and 64bit). Yes upgrading from 32 bit to 64 bit is not possible, so you have to do a clean install. I personally found it good to upgrade to 64bit.

my reasons to upgrade...

1) Running a 32bit OS on 64bit hardware cannot take full power of your machine and you waste the potential of the machine. 32bit OS runs in emulation mode on 64bit machine.
2) You can use full 4Gb and even more if your hardware supports, 64bit OS can support upto 64gb of RAM
3) you have double the databuses (responsible for carrying data between ram and processor) so huge difference.

But this does not mean that your 32bit programs will work exceptionally better, they may work better, worst or same - depending upon the engineering put into them. 64bit is definitely next thing and more and every company is coming up with their 64bit version of software. Microsoft is removing enterprise support for all its 32bit products slowly, strategically.

So who takes a final call? YOU!

 

I've been reading around that you can order the 64-bit version of Vista for $10-12 if you already own a 32-bit copy of it. All you need on hand is your serial key.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

Might want to check that out.

Edit: ..and yeah, I think findvikas is right. You may need the retail license, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to try out your serial key to see if you're qualified for the 64-bit copy. Try it out. :>

 

Thanks for the quick replies, guys. I'm not new to pcs, so I figured I'd have to do a clean install... I was just hoping I didn't have to, lol. I should probably do that before I get too much stuff on it. I'll definitely be looking to this forum for help! How long do you think it will take?

 

I really encourage people to come to 64bit, take my GUIDE (see signature) and if you run into any issue just PM me or shoot a question in that thread

 

I really appreciate it, findvikas. I'll probably start on it this weekend. I might just take the opportunity to pick up vista ultimate for the heck of it!

Korey

 

Vista ultimate 32/64 bit is on the way! This should be fun...

 

Oh, what do you guys use to wipe the hard drive of the old installations?

 

Get into the Vista Installation screen once you get your media. On drive selection screen go to Advanced and delete all partitions. Re-create a new partition to install Vista. minimum is 16gb but I recommend at least 50gb

 

Wow, large partition for it, eh?

 

the reason is, vista+office+other basic appz can take upto 25gigs. vista often downloads updates which are stored in c:\windows\software distribution folder and can take upto 5gigs. vista also has defregmenter scheduled and its better to have least 25% free space for defragmenting your drive.