newbie choosing which vista

N

nffcbasford

New Member
Hi,

i'm a bit limited in knowlegde and wondered if i could get a little advice.

i've just purchased a media pc with no OS installed.

it has 4GB Ram, 7.?? GHz processor and 500GB HD.

i've been looking at vista and have seen that there is a 32bit and 64bit version and also both 32&64 together.

to cut a long story short, i'm not sure what would be best to install and use for me. I'll only really be using it for media purposes, t'internet and the occasional word doc.

I know that i require 64bit to optimise the 4GB Ram but apart from that i'm not sure of the benefits of 64 over 32 and what i would be missing by not installing 32bit.

what i would like to know is what would be the benefits/ disadvantages of only installing 64bit? (for my limited and basic use of course)

thanks :D
 

My Computer

System One

32 bit you won't be able to use all of your 4 GB of ram so if you want to utilize all of your ram I would go with 64 bit. Also you should see if you can find all of your drivers for 64 bit cause if you can't 32 bit would be the way to go.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
Yes you can you will have to setup a dual boot just partition your drive in half or what ever you want and run the dvd and just follow the instructions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
Yep no problem if you have anymore just ask and someone will answer it for you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
nffcbasford said:
Hi,

i'm a bit limited in knowlegde and wondered if i could get a little advice.

i've just purchased a media pc with no OS installed.

it has 4GB Ram, 7.?? GHz processor and 500GB HD.

i've been looking at vista and have seen that there is a 32bit and 64bit version and also both 32&64 together.

to cut a long story short, i'm not sure what would be best to install and use for me. I'll only really be using it for media purposes, t'internet and the occasional word doc.

I know that i require 64bit to optimise the 4GB Ram but apart from that i'm not sure of the benefits of 64 over 32 and what i would be missing by not installing 32bit.

what i would like to know is what would be the benefits/ disadvantages of only installing 64bit? (for my limited and basic use of course)

thanks :D
Click to expand...

I would suggest that you wait for a while for Windows 7 to come out. Oh, wait a minute, if you buy Windows Vista now, you can get Windows 7 for free once it comes out! Just make sure you buy Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate. If you buy Home Premium, you will recieve Windows 7 Home Premium when it comes out. If you buy Business, you will get Windows 7 Pro. If you buy Ultimate, you will get Windows 7 Ultimate.

Make sure you can get 64 bit! 32 bit can't use all of the memory that you have, so I would recommend you to get 64 bit.

Hope this helps!

Ojaser6
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 640m Notebook MXCO61
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo T2080 @ 1.73GHz
    Memory
    Dell Memory 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 945GM Graphics Accelerator
    Sound Card
    Dell High Def. Sound
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 14.1" High Res. UltraSharp Notebook Display
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    One Hard Drive
    120GB
    Keyboard
    Dell Inspiron 640m Stock
    Mouse
    Logitech V4500 Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    54MB/s
Everyone suggests a 64-bit OS for memory purposes, which is good; however, if you only stick with 4gig or less of memory, then you may actually want to stick with a 32-bit OS.

Reason - sadly, there are still lots of hardware/software that will not work correctly under a 64-bit OS. A search of this board will show quite a few posters having problems with hardware/software after moving to (Vista) 64.

Most people will tell you to make sure you buy 64-bit compatible hardware/software, but that's not always easy, cheap, or attainable, especially if you already have a "version" of the hardware/software.

I myself run Vista 64 with little to no problems, but I also have a 32-bit OS (XP) installed because I have hardware, example: Nikon Scanner, and software, example ReaGallery that will never see the light of day for 64-bit support.

My point in this post is to get you to seriously think about the hardware/software you'll be using and do your homework "before" deciding on whether to get a 32 or 64-bit OS.

64-bit is the way of the future, but support is still a little slow by some vendors. Hopefully Windows 7 will push this over the edge, but for legacy hardware/software…well…those upgrades could be quite expensive to your bank account.

Just my two cents.

Yeah...my 1000th post! :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel D975XBX2
    Memory
    Corsair TWIN2X4096-PC8500 (2x2GHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 4890 (1GHz)
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium - Fatality Pro Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    hp w2207h (22" widescreen)
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    One 750GB, 2x500GB Western Digital Caviar Black Hard Drives (32meg)
    PSU
    Antec Neo HE 550
    Case
    Antec P182
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9500 AT
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Revolution
    Internet Speed
    "High" Speed DSL? Is that like low speed FIOS?
    Other Info
    Q6600 B3 Revision OC to 3.0GHz
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