Am I having a stupid attack?

[piratepast40]

Filling out the online form for the Vista upgrade coupon from XP Pro and it asks if I want the 64 bit version. I was under the impression from the beginning that Vista was a 64 bit OS. Reading the forums, there are conflicting opinions regarding if you should choose 32 or 64 bit (yes - that's expected when peope are giving opinions). Wasn't Vista supposed to be 64 bit from the get go? Did I fall asleep and miss something?

 

[mattthenewb]

There are 32 and 64-bit versions.

From what I hear the 64 has trouble with backwards compatability with drivers and software.

 

[piratepast40]

Ya - I'm seeing that there are both versions. Haven't kept up with the specifics so always thought it would all be 64 bit. Finally bought a copy of XP Pro with the upgrade coupon (my old copy of XP had gone over the 10 installs and it was getting to be a pain calling MS for every new install and downloading SP2 and updates).

I had thought that the 64 bit driver issue was pretty much resolved - it would just take individual research to find what you needed for your specific components. Haven't really kept up with the most recent info - just ocassionally reading some posts about the beta versions, even downloaded a few of them but never loaded it since it seemed it was something better left to those with more active brain cells than me.

Anyway - I'm just shocked to see that there are 2 versions. After reading dasickninjas' sticky, glad there are since some of my basic mobo drivers are only available in 32 bit.

 

[dasickninja]

Also try some X64 XP drivers if you are having trouble with 64bit. I used this method when testing software and hardware and it works in certain cases.