Vista - Should I Get 64bit or 32bit?

I'm not sure which will run better on my system. I hear 64bit supposedly runs programs faster then 32bit does.

i'm planning on getting vista ultimate.

here are my specs

2gb ddr2 ram
nvidia 8500
2.2ghz intel core 2 duo cpu
Asus P5GC-MX/1333
creative soundblaster audigy 2 zs

Also, I play a lot of video games, i'm not sure if that would conflict with anything, and I also use a lot of programs (not specifically at once), though i heard 64bit can emulate 32bit only programs.

Hello 2-D,

If you have 64 bit driver versions available for all of your devices, then I would recommend that you use the 64 bit Vista. This way your computer can actually use more than 3GB of RAM if you decided to add more later. The 64 bit Vista can run both 32 bit and 64 bit programs without any problems.

This article will help explain the differences to:

64-bit: More than just the RAM

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I was planning on getting 2 x 2gb sticks of ram anyways.

And I checked, and they all have 64bit drivers which is nice.

yes get 2x2gb ram. I made the mistake of getting 2x1gb so i ended up filling my ram slots with only 4gb.

ive not had one problem with anything running on 64 bit, infact i dont think ive had any problems whatsoever with windows.

I'd go for 64bit. I was previously on 32bit but since I've changed to 64bit I've noticed some great performance increase. I don't think I'll ever go back.

I have almost all apps migrated to x64 and love it, although I would recommend 8 GIGS of ram, and forget the incremental steps. .. Vista x64 loves 8 GIGS of Ram. . .

sportsguy