Vista - Gaming in 64bit

Hi all!
I am currently running Vista Home Premium 32bit (OEM, sadly) and would like your advice.
I am planning on building a new PC over the summer (as I can finally work for decent wages!) and I want to make it a beast. I'm not going to go completely crazy; I'll have a budget of around €1,500 to €2,000. For the most part, I have a good idea of what I'll be getting (X38 Intel mobo, E8xxx Core2 or Quad, R700 ATi or 9xxx nVidia etc) but when it comes to RAM I'm a bit stuck. Should I get 4GBs and a cheaper 32bit version of Vista or go for the 64bit? I know 64bit can theoreticly handle alot more RAM than 32bit, but with 4GB is it worth spending the extra cash on 64bit, or will 32bit handle it just fine? (And by "handle it" I mean utilise it fully. I dont want to find only 3GBs out of 4GB are actually being used...) Aslo, for the 64bit users out there: how is driver support? Are you encountering many problems with games/drivers/hardware?

Many thanks!

If you wanna use all 4 GB of RAM.. you HAVE to have 64bit.. as windows doesn't recognize all 4 in 32bit.. with Vista SP1.. it will now SHOW 4GB when you go to system properties.. but thats just showing what you have actually in your system..

So the 32bit wont use all 4 GB.. at most it will USE around 3.25-3.5 MAX. so get the 64bit so you can use all 4 GB.. or jsut run 3GB and use 32bit.. but then you can't run Dual channel. Well you could 2 1gb sticks.. and 2 512sticks.. but it's recommended that you use same size sticks throughout your system.

So get 4GB and use 64bit. and be happy with that Quad Core.. as I just did a build with one.. and they make you very happy when you use them..

got a dual core and 64 bit,some game updates are a pain but google soon finds tweaks, tend to run most games as admin in any case

got 4x 1 gb ram sticks

Go for the 64-bit, man. Get 4GB now and upgrade to 8 in a few years. You'll be glad you didn't lock yourself out! I've been gaming in Vista x64 since November and it's been great.

Most hardware manufacturers have pretty good 64-bit drivers by now (it's nowhere near as awful as it was with XP-64), so you should be fine.

Definitely go for 64bit. I've been using Vista 64 since October 2007 and gaming on it. I plan to upgrade to 8GB'S of ram in the fall.

There's more Vista 64 drivers than there was for 64bit XP.

Dude, do the 64 bit. OEM is great, if you need "support" you can get better support right here than you can from Microsoft, and it's FREE lol.

Thanks guys, I'll definately be going to 64 bit when I've got my new rig!
Just out of curiosity, has anyone got any experience using 3D applications like 3DSMax, Maya or Silo under 64bit Vista? If so, whats your experience been like?

64 bit is the way to go. An addition:

If you get a second HD (or partition your only HD) then do yourself a *huge* favor - manually install all games to a different location than %ProgramFiles% / %ProgramFilesX86% (which usually ends up expanding to C:\Program Files\ and C:\Program Files (x86)\. There is a reason for that.

Vista locks down security for protected folders - including the Program Files folders. You need special permissions to work in those folders, add files, make mods, etc. that can get to be a real PITA. By using a separate folder (or, as I do, a separate *drive*) you bypass the folder restrictions, giving you free reign on the folder(s).

As an example, I have dual 500 GB drives and a 250 GB Drive. my 250 is partitioned ~150/~100, showing as drives E: and F:. on E I have *all* of my 'special' folders - Downloads, Pictures, Desktop, etc.... - this makes for simple system re-builds. on F I have a single folder - Program Files. It keeps all of my games that I install and play and mod.

Most modern games won't really have much of an issue unless you start making .mods / creating maps / etc. Older games, however, that were made before Vista, can have some PITA experiences when it comes to playing them out of the permission locked Program Files on your normal install.

Another benefit is that I have set my AV to not actively scan F:\Program Files, thereby keeping my system from slowing down during gameplay - with the net result being that I can leave my protection on and running and it not affect my gameplay, and vice versa.

I am sure others here will have something to say about this, but this is my practical experience from when I started testing Vista almost 2 years ago, on my old dinky system (that was as bad, if not worse, than Bink's old system!) - a P4 2.0(A) GHz machine with 1 GB RAM and 3 7200 rpm IDE drives.

This has been my experience

I leave AV (KIS IS) on all the time and without any exclusions. The games I play run just fine, for hours on end. As far as Vista64, my experiences have been mostly trouble-free. The situation will only get better as more SW/HW is produced that takes advantage of the platform.

Just a note that it's not pointless to have a 32-bit version of Vista with 4GB RAM. It's not going to use it all but it will use as much as it can (as you've pointed out above) and if/when you upgrade to 64-bit you'll already have it ready.

There are more reasons to go 64-bit than just that though. 32-bit viruses cannot infect 64-bit OS files. The only thing you really need to worry about are your 32-bit applications (Microsoft Office, etc).