> > I have a dell with a Q6600 processor and 2gb ram. It has 32-bit Vista > Home Premium. > > Two questions: > > 1) Do I gain anything by installing Vista 64-bit on it? Is there an > actual performance difference?
No. There are some applications that benefit from the extra general purpose registers available with the x86-64 instruction set, but in general, you should expect performance to be fairly identical. While I am a big 64-bit advocate, I generally won't install it on systems with <4GB RAM. However, given that you could upgrade to 4 or 6GB for under $50... > > 2) Can I use my current Vista Home Premium license number to install > the 64-bit version? > It depends. With retail versions, you can request easily alternate media from Microsoft for the other edition. Since you ordered from Dell (which is still an operating business), as per Microsoft, you would have to contact them. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246 Supposedly, some have been able to get replacement media regardless of the actual OEM by using the region-specific links under the section "Media replacement for end-users of system builders' computers". Greg
