It turns out the free academic version of Windows 7 I was counting on is 32-bit.
That leaves me with 2 questions:
1) Is this the right version to buy as a replacement?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER
2) Is it OK to use the 32-bit version for a few days until I get the 64-bit version? I know it will be a clean install that will wipe everything I load. I just don't want to miss the Guild Wars 2 early start. I also know performance will be diminished because it's only using 3.5 of my installed 8 GB RAM, but my concern is will I harm the RAM or create problems for the SSD by doing this?