Honestly there is no need for 64 bit upgrade UNLESS the programs you run are in 64 bit mode.
Most programs you install will default to 32 bit anyway, so it's a complete waste.
You can get a very good upgrade for under $1000 if you have it custom made.
Computers are so much cheaper now, the bottom fell out of the market completely and what used to cost the price of a secondhand car and now be bought for half the cost.
For example if you aren't into games, knock off somewhere between $500 and $750 for a state of the art graphics card - not needed. A low to mid range graphics card will easily do the trick.
Don't be fooled by the old trick of 8gb or 12gb of ram (memory)
Most computers cannot utilise all of this memory in realtime, so it's a complete waste of money. Knock off another $400 or so.
Most computers 4gb will be ample providing you have a quality mainboard and processor.
The tip is pay for what you need, not what they say.
Also if you're a punter, your data is most important and reliability. SSD drives are much faster, however, they have a much shorter lifespan and are prone to data loss in the event of power surges and blackouts etc. The old SATA drive performs almost as well if you buy a high rpm drive, shouldn't lose data and will have at least twice the lifespan and reliability.
I use an old HP server with SATA drives and two dual core processors. The graphics are hopeless, but on speed it beats a new machine hands down. It 's built to last and built to be reliable. The memory is self error checking and the drives are high rpm server hot swap drives, with raid. So if a drive starts to fail, it warns me with lights and buzzers BEFORE it fails, and all I do is swap it for a new one, reboot and it rebuilds itself totally.
The power supply is super heavy duty and swappable as well.
If you're looking to upgrade, just go to a reliable store that specialises in computers, word of mouth or Whirlpool will find you a store that custom builds to your requirements, you'll save probably $1,000 easily for a sturdy reliable, fast, unit.
Michal is correct, don't go to Officeworks, Harvey Norman etc, the cheap ones are cheap for a reason, there are tricks they do to suck you in. Like stating the amount of processors or ram but not the physical speed etc.
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