[salvy825]

I have a AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core 6000 Processor+, 3.00GB Ram, and a Nividia Ge force 8800 gt , I found out after my purchase that it has 64-bit capabilities but is only 32-bit for now, I am trying to upgrade to 64-bit but the only thing I could find out is if I Install Windows Vista Ultimate for $399 . Can anybody tell me if this is my only choice or is there another way to upgrade???? any help or suggestions is appreciated.

[smax013]

salvy825 said:

I have a AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core 6000 Processor+, 3.00GB Ram, and a Nividia Ge force 8800 gt , I found out after my purchase that it has 64-bit capabilities but is only 32-bit for now, I am trying to upgrade to 64-bit but the only thing I could find out is if I Install Windows Vista Ultimate for $399 . Can anybody tell me if this is my only choice or is there another way to upgrade???? any help or suggestions is appreciated.

Vista comes in both 32 bit and 64 bit for ALL "flavors" of Vista (whether Ultimate or Home Premium or Home Basic). Vista Ultimate is the only "consumer" version that comes with both the 32 bit and 64 bit install disk in the box. But, if you have Home Premium or Basic and you want the 64 bit version, you can order the installation media for a "minimal fee plus shipping and handling". See the bottom of this page and follow it from there: www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/64-bit.aspx

[salvy825]

Thanks smax013

[rtfire1]

my bro has Home Premium 64 which is mostly the same as my vista Ultimate 64. both run great

[coastie65]

If you are a gamer, I would seriously consider whether or not to go to 64 bit due to the issues associated with it and game compatibility. coastie65

[rtfire1]

Hi Coastie after some gaming I did this weekend I find vista 64 more stable then vista 32 for gaming.

[coastie65]

There are some games that are written with 64 bit in mind, but not all that many at present, mostly the newer stuff. I'm not sure, but Crysis may play in 64 bit. I know that The Witcher will play on Vista with DX10, but don't know about 64 bit. coastie

[rtfire1]

Costie, I play doom3, diablo 1 and 2 and lots of older games I even have a few dos games I play and I had a lot of issues with vista 32 but once i installed 64 and started to play on 64 (the whole point of installing 64 was for better vedio editing and encoding times not gaming) the games ran better with no crashing on of my fav games of all time is the mech warrior line of games I have all the games that have came out for the pc. the first 4 games that came out where dos based later they came out windows based but i never got a round to buying the windows based ones of the same games. I also have vista and xp games runing in 64 bit with hire frame rates then 32

[coastie65]

OK. When you mentioned Diablo and Diable II, that is definately an older game. I have the Diablo Battle Chest and have never been able to play Diablo II. I completed Diablo and when I installed Diablo II, it said something about missing dll files. Maybe I was supposed to leave Diablo in. I know you have to have Diablo II installed in order to run the the Diablo II expansion " Lord Of Destruction". Anyway, if it is playing the older games on 64 bit, then that is good. Maybe you have found something others haven't as i have seen a lot of complaints about gaming on 64 Bit. coastie

[rgreen4]

Please note the requirement on the page when it is talking about ordering the disc.



Click on the above image to enlarge and sharpen.

Basically the upgrade to 64bit for only the price of shipping a DVD, applies only to the Retail version.

If Vista was on the machine from the factory it is an OEM version and the low priced upgrade does not apply. However, he can purchase an OEM 64bit version of Vista Home Premium from Newegg for $100. Here is the link.