Vista 32Bit or Vista 64Bit?

I am about to purchase a refurbished HP computer. I have narrowed it down to choosing between two models. They are identical except for one has 3GB ram and 32Bit Vista and one has 4GB and 64Bit Vista. My intent is to replace the PSU and add an nVidia 8800 GT or 9800GT.

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions concerning the OS type and compatibility with SL and any "better" video cards in the $125 to $150 price range.

TIA.

Frank

For more than 3gb you need 64bit to make sure it will recognize the ram over 3.2gb.

Thank you, yes, I understand the 3GB limit on 32 bit systems.

I decided to build my own instead of buying the refurb. I ended up spending a little more, but feel I got a better system:

Coolmaster Elite 330 case - 39.99 - I am not into bells and whistles here, simple good case
Antec Neopower 550W PSU - 49.99 (overkill, but it was on sale )
Gigabyte GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard - 84.99, not the latest chipset, but good
EVGA 512-P3-N980-AR GeForce 9800 GT - 124.99 again not the newest, but not bad
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - 119.99 - sweet spot for price performance today
G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 1066 - 43.99 - I may add more later, but this will get it running
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - 6.99 - again overkill but...
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD Burner - 23.99 - the old one is about done.

Total with shipping: 646.64.

I have plenty of good new HD's so, that was not necessary, total difference with shipping is about $100, but this system is MUCH better than the HP reburb would have been.

Now, I just hope SL likes it - smiles.

I've been running Vista x64 on a dual-core PC for many months Frank. I couldn't be happier with it... and haven't run into any serious problems.

The only two that stand out are:

1) Sandboxie is not compatible with Vista x64 because the makers won't produce any signed drivers. (I think there are architectural issues that prevent this.)
2) Illustrator CS2 is incompatible with Aero, but that's not even a 64 bit issue... and it only means having to revert to XP like functionality (Flip3D and live taskbar thumbnails are disabled when you're running it for example). I just upgraded to CS3.

Of course, if you use Photoshop, a 64-bit version is now available (CS4). A 64-bit version of Maya has been available for a couple of years and that works great (it really is nippier than the 32-bit version too.. and addresses the extra memory).

Driver support for Vista x64 is excellent too btw. I haven't come across a single piece of hardware that doesn't have x64 drivers. They're available for my four year old printer, a two year old Wacom tablet, my Nokia smartphone... and a cheapo MP3 player that fell out of a Christmas cracker... among other things.