Dammit; been scouring the 'net for a coupla days now, no definitive answers as yet. Main question is; can I switch from 32 to 64 bit on the same product key without too much hassle. Apparently, it's dead easy to upgrade OS as long as it stays with its present 32 or 64bit architecture, even say, from Vista to Win8.

Here's the deal: Gonna re-build mine and my older son's desktop rigs. Got no foreseeable issues with the builds themselves (though still waiting on parts, but we'll see).

The thing we both have is that we are both running (genuine) Win7 Ultimate 32bit. We both wanna go to 64bit, but Microsoft and other geek sites say it's not such a simple issue to convert; and re-install of progs & apps are needed, as well as saving of settings, files & the like.

Should I 1st convert present builds to Win7 Ultimate 64bit and THEN do the hardware changes? (Yes, there is a way to do that, if anyone wants the txt file on how to do it, just send me a line).

Or would I be better off saving all files, folders, pics, vids etc on a 2nd drive and go the longer winded way of a fresh install of Win7 64 bit on fresh drives on both rigs?

Appreciate any thoughtful answers, thanks muchly.

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MY99 WRX sedan WRC blue Sold :(
MY99 WRX sedan Dark blue pearl :D
MY97 Liberty Outback Ltd Wagon
1990 Mk3 Supra turbo fully rebuilt 7M-GTE (Older son)
1991 Celica GT4 (Younger son)

Always good to do a nice clean install if you have the time and patience. If you can do it, go for it. Pretty sure your licence won't work from Vista to Windows 8 though, 32 bit or 64.

Backup to another drive during the rebuild, and don't format the wrong drive during the install.

Any reason not to hang for the Windows 10 release?

Assume going x64 for the so you can address more RAM?

If you're doing a full hardware build, it always makes sense to do the OS. You will barely get away with it otherwise, and the time spent correcting all the drivers etc, probably not worth it.

Kind of like doing a motor build without touching the ECU. Brave.

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Should have bought an STI

Thanks Rich...

Win10 isn't soon enough for me, hopefully I'll have ironed out any troubles that may arise between now and the roll-out.

Staying with Win7 Ultimate for the time being, not just coz that the OS we both have, and like it for stability (heard too many stories about Win8 such as bloatware and various issues - a generalisation I know), but mainly for reasons mentioned above, an upgrade to higher OS on same 64bit architecture is not only simpler so it seems, but free when going from Win7 to Win10 (so I've read), if we go that way, when it eventually gets rolled out.

Yes, x64 for more RAM. More for the son's benefit coz he likes his games, the more recent of which are in lag city. Personally, I don't do games much, I just like a high-end desktop. If I don't do the convert on the existing C drives after laborious backups, I'll probably do the fresh install on new drives and link over to the old 32bit drives, if that happens to be an easy solution, without too much hassles with compatibility.

Wayne.

__________________
MY99 WRX sedan WRC blue Sold :(
MY99 WRX sedan Dark blue pearl :D
MY97 Liberty Outback Ltd Wagon
1990 Mk3 Supra turbo fully rebuilt 7M-GTE (Older son)
1991 Celica GT4 (Younger son)