a while ago i switched from 32 bit to 64 bit. I also upgraded my ram to 4 gigs from 1 gig. the only changes that i noticed were that most of my 32 bit programs do not work with 64 and a slight speed increase... i was hoping that someone else had better results and would like to share.

What the hell OS are you using? Theres very little difference in 64bit Vista vs 32Bit vista. 32 bit programs work fine in the 64 bit version as well.

Edit: Are you using 64bit drivers?

So far, 64bit helps mainly in crunching large numbers. And with proper drivers, Vista64 should work with 32bits.

This.

Also, some games may be optimized for 64 bit OS's I.E. Crysis.

I had a few problems finding a wireless internet adapter that came with 64bit drivers. Finding 64 bit drivers for things is easy now, especially compared to 2 years ago. Very slight speed increase.

Main problem is loads of old 16bit games that I loved playing for the nostalgia don't work anymore.

You try running the emulator in compatibility mode? Is it a vista 64 bit issue or do they not work on 64 bit OS's at all?

well the laptop came shipped with home premium 32 bit i downgraded to xp and had driver problems. i then upgraded to vista ultimate 64 bit all of my drivers are perfect and optimized for 64 bit. i wasnt really sure what the benefits of 64 bit vs 32 bit besides more ram.

im not really sure if there is a major difference in home premium and vista ultimate but i know that my freind has a similar laptop running Vista HP w/ 3 gigs of ram having epic problems. my 64 bit ultimate is running great compared to that(minor problems).

Yeah I tried compatibility mode, no joy. Its an issue with all 64bit OSs, I'm running XP x64. 64bit windows versions include many 32bit .dll's and an 'emulator' of sorts so they can run 32bit applications, doesn't work for drivers though. 32bit versions of windows used a similar method to run 16bit apps, but microsoft didn't deem it necessary to have this funtionality in 64bit OSs (maybe it actually isn't possible) and I've found no way round it except do dual boot with a 32bit OS.

I recently purchased a new computer than I build myself, and I got a 3.0 ghz AMD Athlon 64 x2 (Windsor). Unfortunately, the performance has been terrible, to say the least. I'm wondering if maybe I upgraded to 64 bit vista to 32 bit xp, it might fix my cpu woes? If not, I would love some help figuring out what's wrong with the stupid thing =P

I can provide a SIW report if you need it.