I plan to get 64-bit Windows 7 for my new PC later this year. But I was wondering whether to get the Premium or the Ultimate edition for my gaming requirements. I also want the Virtual XP mode that supposedly comes with Windows 7, but I read that feature only comes with the Professional edition.Just wondering what edition are potential Windows 7 owners considering or purchasing?Any and all replies are greatly appreciated.

I plan to get 64-bit Windows 7 for my new PC later this year. But I was wondering whether to get the Premium or the Ultimate edition for my gaming requirements. I also want the Virtual XP mode that supposedly comes with Windows 7, but I read that feature only comes with the Professional edition.Just wondering what edition are potential Windows 7 owners considering or purchasing?Any and all replies are greatly appreciated.

I use Vista 64 Home Premium and am going to install the Professional Version. The back-up features look better and the virtual XP sim as well.

I'm also looking at a Win 7 upgrade from WinXP (32). I'm reading through the win7 forum and maybe haven't got to it yet- but what's the best flavor of Win7 to get? I would want a 64 bit version.Thanks, Bruce.

If you don't need Bitlocker (encryption), get Professional so you can use the XP Emulator.If you want Bitlocker (encryption), get Ultimate.That easy!Phil

If you don't need Bitlocker (encryption), get Professional so you can use the XP Emulator.If you want Bitlocker (encryption), get Ultimate.That easy!Phil

Thanks Phil, much appreciated.Bruce.

Thanks Phil, much appreciated.Bruce.

I have the Ultimate version on all pc's at home and it works flawless

I have the Ultimate version on all pc's at home and it works flawless

Thanks Tom.

I have Ult 64b and go with 64b, that way you can have 6GB of ram, 4GB for FSX and 2GB for Win7 and everything else!

I have Ult 64b and go with 64b, that way you can have 6GB of ram, 4GB for FSX and 2GB for Win7 and everything else!

Thanks, - are you able to tell how much of the 4GB that FSX actually accesses? I have 4GB total at the moment (Q6600, 4GB DDR3)Bruce.

I like my Ultimate x64 - if I had bought it, would also have gotten it - if you can believe, it was a gift from MS. :(

Thanks, - are you able to tell how much of the 4GB that FSX actually accesses? I have 4GB total at the moment (Q6600, 4GB DDR3)Bruce.

At any time FSX needs it to run FSX will use all 4GB if you have a 64b OS and more than 4GB of memory. If you are just sitting at a gate doing nothing then FSX is not going to use all 4GB, if you are flying over NYC, have your AI set to 30%, have FS Dreamteam KJFK installed and MegaSceneryEarth Long Island installed then FSX is going to be using all 4 GB, as you head out over the ocean then FSX would not need all 4 GB. So whether or not FSX uses all 4GB is going to depend on what FSX is doing at any given point in time.If you have a 64b OS and only 4GB of memory then the OS and everything else that you have running is going to use what it needs and whatever is left over is what FSX gets to use.If you have 6GB of memory and a 64b OS, but you have a lot of stuff running at the same time that you are running FSX then there may not be 4GB available to FSX, that is why people get into tweaking the OS and getting rid of any processes that do not need to be running. Not only does it speed everything up, it uses less memory and in general puts less of a strain on the CPU and memory thereby freeing up resources for FSX to use.Hopefully all of my above rambling makes sense!

At any time FSX needs it to run FSX will use all 4GB if you have a 64b OS and more than 4GB of memory. If you are just sitting at a gate doing nothing then FSX is not going to use all 4GB, if you are flying over NYC, have your AI set to 30%, have FS Dreamteam KJFK installed and MegaSceneryEarth Long Island installed then FSX is going to be using all 4 GB, as you head out over the ocean then FSX would not need all 4 GB. So whether or not FSX uses all 4GB is going to depend on what FSX is doing at any given point in time.If you have a 64b OS and only 4GB of memory then the OS and everything else that you have running is going to use what it needs and whatever is left over is what FSX gets to use.If you have 6GB of memory and a 64b OS, but you have a lot of stuff running at the same time that you are running FSX then there may not be 4GB available to FSX, that is why people get into tweaking the OS and getting rid of any processes that do not need to be running. Not only does it speed everything up, it uses less memory and in general puts less of a strain on the CPU and memory thereby freeing up resources for FSX to use.Hopefully all of my above rambling makes sense!

Thanks for the info, appreciated.I guess my first task is to find drivers for all the mobo, GPU, USB wireless adaptor, etc. Does Win 7 operate well for FSX purposes right out of the box, or are there tweaks etc. that need to be done, nat framework updates, etc.? I would like to have the XP compatibility option, sounds like this comes with Professional and higher flavors. Also would like to preserve C: of possible, I've read here that when upgrading it's maybe possible for Win7 to over-write the prior OS on C:Thanks, Bruce.

I think that if you are go to install Win7 on an existing PC then you need to do a fresh install, overwrite everything so that you have a new canvas so to speak and then install all of your programs into Win7 from scratch. This gives you a clean install and you will not have to worry about creating any problems. I do believe that if you are going from a 32b OS to a 64b OS then you have no choice, everything gets overwritten.I had no problems loading FSX and all my addons into Win7. Just like everything else there are a few that were not as easy as others, but everything got installed and working without to much of a furstration level. The biggest problem I had was with FEX and ArrestorCables, but I got them installed. I also had to go buy Adobe Acrobat 9 since Acrobat 7 will not work with Win7. Since I had already been through it once with XP even getting SDK installed was easy since I already knew what problems to look for and how to fix them.I would visit the support forums for each of the addons that you have and you can see what problems people had if any and what was done to resolve them. There is a trick to adding things to the scenery library in Win7 and just like Vista make sure that you have UAC off before you try to install anything into Win7. You should install FSX into its own directory, do not let it install to the default directory that it wants to. Create a folder like C:\FSX and install FSX and all related addons to that directory. If you can afford one you should put FSX on its own drive. I have mine on a Velocirator.