Premiere Elements 7 / New Computer / 32-Bit or 64-Bit?

Question

I need a new computer. I have a Dell Dimension 8300 (purchased in 2004). During video capture I am always dropping frames; while editing, the computer will periodically freeze; and is very sluggish. I am looking to purchase a  Dell XPS 9000, or have a computer build. Problem is, the Dell has a 64-Bit motherboard and the computer the person proposes to build for me will have a 32-Bit motherboard (limiting my system RAM to 4 GB).
The new computer will primarily be used to capture and edit video and author DVDs, and be ready to author Blu-ray DVDs in the future.
I have used Premiere Elements since it first came out, and am presently using Premiere Elements 7, and really don't intend to go beyond the consumer level of video editing software; I still have much to learn about Premiere Elements.
My questions:
Do I go with 32-Bit or 64-Bit?
Will Premiere Elements 7 (and 8) run on a 64-Bit system?
Do I have a computer built, or will a Dell XPS 9000 be a better choice?
In building a computer I wanted a say in the components that would go into it. Dell gives you a say, but not a say in such components as the power supply, or what brand name HDDs to put in, or what brand name Optical Drives, the number of fans, et cetera.
Here is what is proposed for the computer to be built:
Intel Quad i5-750 2.66 GHz 8M LGA-1156
Intel Chipset Gigabyte GA-H55M Motherboard w/ Integrated DVI / HDMI / VGA HD Video and PCI-X slot for PC-X Video
RAM: 4 GB (2.2GB) DDR3 PC-10666
Video Card: Radeon HD 540 w/ 1 GB DDR3 or NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 w/ 1 GB DDR3
Audio: 7.1 Channels integrated
HDD #1 (Western Digital 500 GB)
HDD # 2 (Western Digital 1T)
Optical: DVD+/-RW / DL 22 X SATA
Capture Card: PCI 3-port Firewire 1394
Windows 7 Professional (32-Bit)
Monitor (Dell 1680 x 1050) and mouse and keyboard are not included as I hope to use the ones I presently have.
Cost: $1,865.
Thanks for any and all advice you can give.

Answer 1

For "future-proofing," I would go with 64-bit. There are still some driver issues and also many 3rd party add-ons are not yet 64-bit, but most are working on them. I would anticipate that the driver issues will be pretty good by SP-1 (no date that I know of).
I would guess that PrE 9 will be either a dual OS program, or at least totally optimized for 64-bit.
Dell seems to do nice machines, but they do ramp up the prices, if you want anything but their stock configuration. One might well get more, if they have a good local shop build the unit custom. That will depend on where you are located, and how good the shops and techs are there.
Looking over the specs., I would add one additional 1TB HDD, for a total of 3. I would add a BD burner, in addition to the DVD multi-drive. With 64-bit, you WILL want to bump the RAM up, and with DDR3, you will want say 9GB or 12GB. (RAM is cheap, though Dell might not think so). I would also look into a 850-900W Power Supply. Did not see Dell's selection.
This is just a guess, but I would anticipate that you could get these additions locally, for about the same price as Dell's system. Also, you will not have to remove, or disable the bloatware that any company will likely sidle you with.
You might want to look over the linked articles HERE. Harm is the Hardware guru in the PrPro forum, and keeps atop all developments. Now, some of his suggestions are for full-blown NLE workstations, but I think that all can be translated down to something less than a super-computer.
Good luck, and enjoy your new machine, regardless of what you go with,
Hunt