you can get a 120 day free trial of xp64. i did a thread on that....

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3128871

(xp64 is currently $139.99 at newegg.)

there was a lot of discussion on that thread about whether it was worth it or not and here's a new one talking about some of the problems encountered:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2727322

i don't have any apps that use 64bit right now but i will soon. i think i will go with xp64 instead of vista. it seems like it's better but i am set in my ways. i remember waiting a while before going to xp and even then didn't update all my computers at first. but my daughter works at microsoft and i think i paid $35 for each installation, so it was a no brainer.

i find that lots of people are certain about their advice based on what they think but often the reality is different. i generally run tests to see for myself. there have been lots of cases during my career where what was generally accepted as fact was later proven wrong.

i am doing lots of batch rendering and have a utility that times everything. i have varied my render  settings to determine what the important factors are. i will be releasing a version of that utility to the members of the forum pretty soon. you could install the trial version of xp64 in a separate partition or on another drive and then run tests before you buy.

in that vein: one of my computers has a utility for over-clocking. everyone was real excited about that. i overclocked by 20% and my renders were actually slower. so, opinions are one thing but i prefer reality.

i'm glad you got things working. let me know how things go.