VMware's official documentation states that when you have in excess of 200 ESX/ESXi hosts to manage with your vCenter server, you should go 64-bit. However, they also mention that in the smaller deployments, where 32-bit would be just fine, 64-bit is still recommended.

&quot;When you have up to 200 hosts, you can use a 32-bit Windows operating system, but a 64-bit Windows operating system is preferred.&quot;

<!--more-->

50 hosts and 250 powered on VMs has a hardware requirement of 4GB of RAM, 2 CPUs, and 3GB of disk space.

200 hosts and 2000 powered on VMs requires 4GB of RAM, 4 CPUs, and 3GB of disk space.

300 hosts and 3000 powered on VMs requires 8GB of RAM, 4 CPUs, and 3GB of disk space.

These requirements are on the VCP 4 exam blueprint-- so study them!