is it worth going with a 64 bit proc? i remember a couple of years ago they were really buggy and no programs were compatible with them... is thats still the case today?

My understanding (and I may be wrong) is that all multicore CPU's are 64 Bit, and that you can run any 32 bit app. on them, you just can't run a 64 bit app on a 32 bit chip. An advantage to a 64 bit processor/os is that you can use *way* more RAM then with a 32 bit (32 bit are limited to 3.5-4 GB RAM, a 64 bit can theoretically take up to 16 exabytes, the next step up from a terrabyte.)

oh ok, well that sheds some light on it for me, what about certain programs? i remember xp64 didnt support a lot of normal software programs and you needed specific 64 bit versions of software, that not all companies made... kind of a pain.

I don't know about programs. Also, I've heard that Vista x64 is much better the XP x64, but I don't personally know, I've never used either XP x64 or Vista x64.

Yes, 64-bit Vista has much better compatibility than 64-bit XP. Pretty much any software that will work on 32-bit Vista will also work on 64-bit Vista. The exception to this is 16-bit software, which cannot run under any 64-bit version of Windows. However, with Windows going 32-bit with Windows 95, you will have to look at programs over 10 years old in order to find a 16-bit one.

As for having to find specific 64-bit versions of programs, you should be glad if the program you are using has one. Native 64-bit programs will run faster than their 32-bit counterparts. And, as I mentioned, if there is no 64-bit version, this is no problem as 32-bit programs run fine on 64-bit Vista.