64 bit versus 32 bit

Hello there everyone :)

My work was kind enough to give me a Xp 64 bit installation CD. So to put it simply, it is worth upgrading Xp sp2 32 bit to Xp 64 bit. Ill be honest - I have no knowledge of 64 bit systems so abit of advice would be quite helpful.

Thank you

Hi there Cider,

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My work was kind enough to give me a Xp 64 bit installation CD.

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I wonder why? :jack:

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So to put it simply, it is worth upgrading Xp sp2 32 bit to Xp 64 bit.

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In a word....................... No! elkgrin

Basically, there is no point in running a 64bit OS if you don't have software that is designed to take advantage of it.

Also, you will have a hell of a problem with device drivers ;)

IMHO the 64bit Win XP was a bit premature............... but that is my personal opinion of course.

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In a word....................... No!

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That is all that I requested :)

I know device drivers will be a problem but to my knowledge 64 bit runs faster - I don't know how much though but if you say Its not really a good option then I will stick to my 32 bit.

Thanks Nihil.

Hmmm,

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to my knowledge 64 bit runs faster

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I don't see how running a 64 bit OS on a 32 bit architecture is going to be faster.

Anyways who gives a sh1t about the OS............ you run applications, and they are 32 bit, so they will be running in some sort of emulation mode.

Don't let me put you off though.......... try running it in a virtual machine perhaps?

:)

The major advantage of 64-bit is the ability to have more than 4GB of RAM. Keep in mind, though, that if you run a 32-bit app on a 64-bit OS/CPU, you'll get about a 10% performance hit due to the 32-bit wrapper that has to run.

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Keep in mind, though, that if you run a 32-bit app on a 64-bit OS/CPU, you'll get about a 10% performance hit due to the 32-bit wrapper that has to run.

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Thanks delstar, that is what I suspected.

I have only seen 64 bit used for CAD (in a desktop context). There you did want more than 3.5~4.0Gb and the software was written for a 64 bit environment.

I am sure that it has other applications such as professional publishing, photo manipulation and the like, but I have not seen that personally.

So then it wouldnt be asvisable to use Vista 64 bit versus 32 bit? If was that advice just for XP? :)

Well, I can't speak first hand, but Vista is a next generation OS, so I would expect its 64 bit version to be a lot better.

I have heard that 64 bit is better for the latest games, and I would be certainly looking at it for professional CAD deployments (along with quad core processors).

With a new build I might be tempted, but I certainly wouldn't like to try an upgrade, or try to support legacy peripherals :shocked:

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Originally Posted by nihil

I don't see how running a 64 bit OS on a 32 bit architecture is going to be faster.

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With AMD's AMD64 and Intel's EM64T architecture it's the other way around. You're running a 32bit OS on a 64bit architecture.
It's simply impossible to run a 64bit OS on a 32bit architecture.

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try running it in a virtual machine perhaps?

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You can't run a 64bit guest OS on a 32bit Host OS.


As a side note.. XP-x64 is basically a Windows 2003 server core with the XP look and feel. Really different from the original XP. Drivers for XP-x64 are hard to find. For Vista it's not so much of a problem. If Vista 32bit is supported there's usually also a 64bit version of the driver.

Interesting...I've never had the fortune to play on a 64bit one before...been wondering what the benefit was, especially since it's so friggin' rare.