What operating system to use with a new rig?
 

I am getting a new rig made to use with RoF and IL2 - Cliffs of Dover.
Should I:

stick with XP

Get 32 bit System 7 or

Get 64 bit System 7?

I am 64 years old and will not understand technical answers but the guy putting it together needs to know.

Windows 7 64-bit.

First, definitely 64-bit to allow for >4GB RAM usage. Second, Windows XP support is ceasing (has ceased?) so I'd go with the current version (7) if I were you. Finally, DirectX10 and 11 do not work with XP so you will not get the best graphics features into the future if you stick with XP. I have Windows 7 64-bit and have found it quite stable and easy to work with.

I use win 7 64bit. ssd drives. 12 gb ram. 3 gtx 480 sli and water cooling using a dual loop.

If it's Windows 7 then 64bit is the only way to go (why bother with 32bit?). There's virtually no downside to Win7 64bit except if you run 16bit legacy software which has legacy support on 32bit Windows but not on 64bit versions.

Honestly this is true for maybe a small number of people.

Windows XP... it's core foundation is a decade old. It's most recent major update is maybe half a decade old. Not worth it in my mind. Support on new hardware/software is beginning to wane despite it's immense popularity.

Thanks troops, Sys 7 64 bit it is.

Everyone beat me to it, but ya Win7 64bit is a very good OS and is also easy to use. At the moment its really the only sane choice.
-Try to get the professional version, not home or home premium (they cap the ram to 16gb) vs 256gb for professional (or 128? either way you would need alot of ram sticks :) !

I have just bought a dual boot system. XP to run older software that might not run properly in W7 and W7 64 bit for all newer software ... including of course CoD.

Just upgraded from XP to Win7 64Bit myself, I like it so far, and the extra memory comes in handy.

No trouble accepting rudder pedals, joystick, throttle and track IR?

Just made the switch from XP to Win 7 Pro 64 only issue I had was having to change from using CH control software version 3.6 to version 4.51 and having to change the settings on a couple of throttle controls.

Got Win 7 64 bit to have 8GB memory seen.