[seafarer]

Originally Posted by Type941

I mean I read some things online, and concensus seems that 64 bit is a tad too early for pretty much every program outhere and is gonna take 3-4 years before it becomes the top choice for all.

But even a 64-bit program, unless it is doing something that needs more then 4GB RAM, is no better then a 32-bit version. Seriously, there is no point in a 64-bit version of MS-Office, or notepad, unless you are opening up files bigger then 4GB. A 64-bit version of Photoshop would be pointless for many users, although there are certainly some who would benefit from it as they work either with very large images or many images at once. For things like Apple's iMovie, a 64-bit version would be useful for rendering full length DVDs and such.

64-bit computing only makes sense if you have apps that need the extra RAM - that really is it. For any situation where 4GB RAM or less is good, 32-bit code will usually run faster, and it's fully capable of making the most of that amount of RAM.

Originally Posted by Type941

SO, probably Im down to 32 bit 200dollar XP-Vista Business or 32 bit cheaper VIsta.

I saw that there was some gimmicking required to get the SH4 work with Vista, but seems nothing major-...

So for now it's most likely gonna be 32 bit Vista Home Premium. Anyone running it?

PS. I do (will) have 4GB of RAM.

Simpliest thing to do is just be sure to install SH4 anywhere but the default "Programs" folder. Vista's UAC security layer will mess things up with the patches and mods if they try to write to that folder. Just have the installer put it in a folder of your choice (mine is in my user space, in a folder just named "games"). That will bypass Vista's UAC and you should have no problems.