Upgrading to Vista 64bit... What all is involved in this process?

So my CPU only gets to 30% while 5boxing... My video card nowhere near maxed... However, my RAM is just killing me.

So I'm looking to upgrade to 8GB RAM. This obviously involves a 64bit Windows Vista.... Which leads me to my questions:



Whats the absolute cheapest/best/fastest route for upgrading Vista Ultimate 32bit to 64bit?

I only own a 32bit "System Builders" CD, will I be required to purchase a new CD?

Will it require me basically starting with a completely new OS, or can I still keep most things, like WoW, etc?

Funny enough I just upgraded today, I had bought an extra 4GB of memory last week ($25AR from newegg, just couldn't resist!) and thought I'd give it a try.

I installed Vista64 from scratch, I've never been a fan of OS upgrades since it always seems to have small problems. It took about 30 minutes to install, pretty much on its own until the end.

Running Octopus now on it, no hassles and Octopus is connected to my 2nd XP machine without a problem (I did have to run octopus as admin). I haven't noticed any kind of performance boost, but thats to be expected since I run dual core which is at 100% cpu pegged -- I really need to upgrade to a quad core :( I get 30-45 FPS outdoors, and 6-10 fps in dalaran (sigh), which is exactly the same in XP.

FWIW If you own any copy of Vista you can call Microsoft and they will give you the serial number for the 64 bit version and de-activate the 32 bit one (or its the same number, dunno exactly). You still need the install media of course, they charge you if you want that. I had a free Dell vista32 serial that I never used, I called them up and they gave me a 64 bit version -- I already had Vista64 DVD from work though so I didn't have to get that.

[quote='sqeaky4100',index.php?page=Thread&postID=15 6515#post156515]So my CPU only gets to 30% while 5boxing... My video card nowhere near maxed... However, my RAM is just killing me.

So I'm looking to upgrade to 8GB RAM. This obviously involves a 64bit Windows Vista.... Which leads me to my questions:

[b]

Whats the absolute cheapest/best/fastest route for upgrading Vista Ultimate 32bit to 64bit?[/b]
[b]
I only own a 32bit "System Builders" CD, will I be required to purchase a new CD?

Will it require me basically starting with a completely new OS, or can I still keep most things, like WoW, etc?[/b][/quote]This is an old subject here and it has been beaten to death a few times. However, in this link there are a few good references on how to lay hands on Vista64 for nothing.

[url='http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=16836']Upgrading to 64 bit Windows - Cost?[/url]

You can keep most of your apps. 32bit software runs fine... drivers on the other hand may be a problem. This is one of the few cool things about using Dell.... the Dell OEM Vista64 pretty much installs and runs (on Dell systems of course).


-j

seriously, they will change it from 32 to 64? I have a full version of vista basic I got like dirt cheap when compusa went out of business in my area, thou this is when vista came out (pre- sp1, I never used it. If I can really chg it then maybe I'll toy around with adding more RAM and running vista.

Now to just bug one my friends to see who has an install cd.

hmm i wasn't aware that you could just call them up and get a 32-bit license changed to 64-bit... will this work with any OEM version of vista? just curious :P

This works with any Microsoft OS in production.