Vista - Upgrade question

I'm not computer savvy but I do know a little bit, so excuse my ignorance.

I've recently purchased an intel wolfdale 3.0ghz chip, ddr2pc6400 4gb ram, and a new mobo that supports those two items. Right now I'm deciding on whether or not to upgrade from my current OS to Vista x32, or Vista x64. One huge element that contributes to that is whether or not this will format my computer. So my question is to all those Vista people out there, will my HD be formatted if I do upgrade?

Hi wangbot, don´t need to format if you install Vista in another partition. Then you can try to learn about Vista and you have Xp if any problem appears. Other way format is absolutely necesary.

A change as drastic as a new motherboard, CPU and RAM is likely going to kill Windows XP, so be sure to have adequate backups of all pertinent data before swapping out those components.

I'd also suggest moving to Vista x64, unless you have some older programs and/or hardware that might not work with x64. In that case, go with Vista x86 (32-Bit).

But I'd still recommend Vista x64, especially with the new motherboard and cpu you just got. A 32-Bit OS is a waste on such good hardware....

Thank you for the information from the both of you. I've installed the new items today with my original HD with XP pro on it and it has worked out fine. Despite minor troubles early (forgot to uninstall old asus and nvidia drives!) I was able to come out of with a faster computer. At the moment I may just stick with Xp 32-bit until I find it completely necessary to upgrade. And when I do, I will probably go with Vista x64. Thank you guys again!