Windos XP to W8 upgrade questions

[hb904460]

I have a legit copy of windows XP Pro (32 bit) that i want to upgrade to W8 (64 bit). I also have hardware (S939, GPU, MB and DDR to FM2 CPU, MB and ddr3) to upgrade.
Now the questions!

1.Using the windows upgrade tool i can get W8 Pro for £24.99 plus £8.99 for a DVD, is this the same as the £44.99 DVD that most shops sell? Will it be the 64 bit version?

2.Which do you recommend i upgrade first, software or hardware? Im leaning towards hardware and sorting XP with drivers etc ready to upgrade...

3.Does the upgrade disk mean that if i want to reinstall in the future i have to have Windows XP back on the machine before W8?

Thank you!

[directhex]

1.Using the windows upgrade tool i can get W8 Pro for £24.99 plus £8.99 for a DVD, is this the same as the £44.99 DVD that most shops sell?

Yes.

Will it be the 64 bit version?

No-ish. The short version is the installer will download a 32-bit or 64-bit version depending on the bittiness of the OS you run it on. If you want 64-bit, you need to run the installer on a 64-bit OS, e.g. a friend's PC. I don't know if the "mail me a DVD" option sends you both 32-bit and 64-bit install media.

2.Which do you recommend i upgrade first, software or hardware? Im leaning towards hardware and sorting XP with drivers etc ready to upgrade...

Your hardware is pretty ancient, so I could see the argument for that..... but it's MUCH much much easier to install an OS made this decade on a new computer than an OS from 2002. So "both!"

3.Does the upgrade disk mean that if i want to reinstall in the future i have to have Windows XP back on the machine before W8?

Yes, annoyingly. The license is specifically for upgrades. The installer will permit you to do a reformat though, after it verifies a valid activated previous version of the OS is installed.