Conroe: XP Pro 64bit or 32bit?

2Cb

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2006
70
0
18,630
Hello dear power users,

I was wondering what would be the better choice for a core 2 duo cpu.
Considering that with windows XP pro 64 bit this os would run much much faster on a conroe cpu, all 32-bit applications should have to be run with a 32-bit emulator (is this correct?), which is a degradation in performance.

Now considering the performance gain from the 64bit OS and the performance degradation from running most apps in the emulator, would the result be an overall faster execution of applications then on a 32bit regular windows xp pro operating system?

My setup is a 2,4 Ghz E6600 (Intel Bad Axe MoBo)with 2 gig 667 kingston RAM that has been tested up to 3 Ghz with good stability.

Great thanks to whoever throws in his or her 5 cents.


2Cb.
 

m25

Distinguished
May 23, 2006
2,363
0
19,780
Now considering the performance gain from the 64bit OS and the performance degradation from running most apps in the emulator, would the result be an overall faster execution of applications then on a 32bit regular windows xp pro operating system?

The degradation you usually get for 32bit apps on a 64 bit system AT MOST 1% but you have the great advantage of installing and USING more than 4G RAM, speed advantages of 64bit apps up to 10-16% and the world is slowly but seriously moving to 64bits.
There are people who say you don't need it but it's like the famous "Who will ever nee more than 640K RAM".
 

2Cb

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2006
70
0
18,630
Does this mean you say go Xp pro 64 bit?

Are you expecting any compatibility issues with regular applications like messenger, virusscanners, games, peer2peerclients, etc.?
 

Logicsequence

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2004
432
0
18,780
Now considering the performance gain from the 64bit OS and the performance degradation from running most apps in the emulator, would the result be an overall faster execution of applications then on a 32bit regular windows xp pro operating system?

The degradation you usually get for 32bit apps on a 64 bit system AT MOST 1% but you have the great advantage of installing and USING more than 4G RAM, speed advantages of 64bit apps up to 10-16% and the world is slowly but seriously moving to 64bits.
There are people who say you don't need it but it's like the famous "Who will ever nee more than 640K RAM".

Does this mean you say go Xp pro 64 bit?

Are you expecting any compatibility issues with regular applications like messenger, virusscanners, games, peer2peerclients, etc.?

Im running XP x64 with a C2D and it's fine. I decided on x64 b/c i have 4GB of ram, and might have more in the future.

EM64T on a Conroe runs exactly like AMD64, so there is hardware support for 32 bit apps. So there is no degredation from running 32bit apps any more.

However, there are going to be issues when it comes to drivers and antivirus. You'll have to make sure all your hardware has 64bit drivers, which shouldn't be a problem if you bought your hardware in the last 3-4 years. Most companies put out XP x64 drivers for their hardware from that timeframe. (the exception being Logitech. Only they're newer Keyboard and Mice using the SetPoint software can be run on 64bit machines...)

There is an innate lack of antivirus software for 64bit machines. The only name brand retail one i know of is the one i use, norton antivirus corporate 10. But there are a host of smaller non-name brand antivirus softwares with 64bit support.

There are no issues for messager programs, games (provided they're not uber old), p2p software, etc... However you will need to get 64bit versions of say, quicktime, or realplayer, yadda yadda.
 

Julian33

Distinguished
Jun 23, 2006
214
0
18,680
I think I remember reading somewhere that macro ops fusion dosn't work in 64 bit mode - it only equates to a couple of percent performance reduction afaik, but something to bear in mind when making your decision
 

m25

Distinguished
May 23, 2006
2,363
0
19,780
Does this mean you say go Xp pro 64 bit?

Are you expecting any compatibility issues with regular applications like messenger, virusscanners, games, peer2peerclients, etc.?

It's a lot of time that I use it @ work and never had any driver issues or drawbacks. At the end of this year MS will release 64 bit versions of all their products (at least almost all). Video, 2D and 3D software are all going 64 bit mainstream pretty fast. If you should buy a new system from now on, it HAS to be 64bit.
 
i've heard many applications do not work on the 64bit version of windows xp. Many applications do not work correctly. Lots of hardware do not have drivers for it.

Save your money for vista.

Hello dear power users,

I was wondering what would be the better choice for a core 2 duo cpu.
Considering that with windows XP pro 64 bit this os would run much much faster on a conroe cpu, all 32-bit applications should have to be run with a 32-bit emulator (is this correct?), which is a degradation in performance.

Now considering the performance gain from the 64bit OS and the performance degradation from running most apps in the emulator, would the result be an overall faster execution of applications then on a 32bit regular windows xp pro operating system?

My setup is a 2,4 Ghz E6600 (Intel Bad Axe MoBo)with 2 gig 667 kingston RAM that has been tested up to 3 Ghz with good stability.

Great thanks to whoever throws in his or her 5 cents.


2Cb.
 

Logicsequence

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2004
432
0
18,780
i've heard many applications do not work on the 64bit version of windows xp. Many applications do not work correctly. Lots of hardware do not have drivers for it.

Save your money for vista.

Hello dear power users,

I was wondering what would be the better choice for a core 2 duo cpu.
Considering that with windows XP pro 64 bit this os would run much much faster on a conroe cpu, all 32-bit applications should have to be run with a 32-bit emulator (is this correct?), which is a degradation in performance.

Now considering the performance gain from the 64bit OS and the performance degradation from running most apps in the emulator, would the result be an overall faster execution of applications then on a 32bit regular windows xp pro operating system?

My setup is a 2,4 Ghz E6600 (Intel Bad Axe MoBo)with 2 gig 667 kingston RAM that has been tested up to 3 Ghz with good stability.

Great thanks to whoever throws in his or her 5 cents.


2Cb.

Um, well in case you didn't get the memo... the main versions of vista will be 64bit..... There will be 32 bit versions, but they'll be the "lower tier" versions. When Vista comes out, the push will be for 64bit.

As for many applicatations do not work and not working correctly? that's hogwash. less than 5% of mainstream apps have any issues whatsoever on XP x64, and 99% of the time the issues can be solved easily. The only thing that does work on x64 is arceaic 16bit applications.
 

ANIA_fanboy

Distinguished
Jul 8, 2006
78
0
18,630
Does this mean you say go Xp pro 64 bit?

Are you expecting any compatibility issues with regular applications like messenger, virusscanners, games, peer2peerclients, etc.?

It's a lot of time that I use it @ work and never had any driver issues or drawbacks. At the end of this year MS will release 64 bit versions of all their products (at least almost all). Video, 2D and 3D software are all going 64 bit mainstream pretty fast. If you should buy a new system from now on, it HAS to be 64bit.

Just to put in my 2 cents; Netgear, as stated on their website, will not be making any 64-bit drivers. Although I can see how a definitive statement makes sense since future computing will certainly be 64-bit.
 

m25

Distinguished
May 23, 2006
2,363
0
19,780
Any amount of ram is supported > 512 kB or whatever Microsoft states, 1-2 gig will be pretty much the norm for now that you will find in systems released from OEMs or people build -- this is because for decent memory, 4 gigs will run 400 to 700 bucks and this is simply too expensive.

Don't think 512 would be a good idea; already tried it and it's crippling like having 256 on 32bit

Also, M25 says it HAS to be 64 bit and this is not necessarily true, you don't have to do anything. But I do strongly strongly encourage you to get a 64 bit capable system as once Vista hits the migration to 64 bit will increase in pace quite quickly.

I was talking about professional work (would be a sin to have the money and not installing 4-8M RAM) and the 10-15% boost is something you feel @ those levels.
 

sailer

Splendid
Would 2 gig ram be sufficient to support Pro x64 in a performant way?

Any amount of ram is supported > 512 kB or whatever Microsoft states, 1-2 gig will be pretty much the norm for now that you will find in systems released from OEMs or people build -- this is because for decent memory, 4 gigs will run 400 to 700 bucks and this is simply too expensive.

Also, M25 says it HAS to be 64 bit and this is not necessarily true, you don't have to do anything. But I do strongly strongly encourage you to get a 64 bit capable system as once Vista hits the migration to 64 bit will increase in pace quite quickly.

I pretty much agree with this. If I was building a computer now, I'd buy 2 gig of ram, configured so that I could easily go to 4 gig when needed. Ok, the price may not be easy, I mean the hardware. Its like when I first went to 2 gig on my present system. I simply added two 512 sticks to the two 512 sticks that I had. Then I realized the performance hit that had occured, so I bought two 1 gig sticks. I'm not sure if four 1 gig sticks would be all that bad performance wise compared to two 2 gig sticks, but its something to think about.

Likewise, if I was building a new computer at the moment, I'd go for the XP 64 Pro OS. Then I'd be buying 64 bit programs and make an easier and cheaper transition when Vista finally does appear. May not be the best way to do it, but that's what I would do.
 

enewmen

Distinguished
Mar 6, 2005
2,247
3
19,815
Wait for Vista.
There are VERY few x64 apps available now. Also don't expect any big speed increase yet. You can make a x64 partition if you want to play with FarCry 64 for example. I did that, but no big proformance increase. Don't go 64bit yet unless you want to do something very specific.

I expect FarCry2 (Crysis) with DX 10 will be a completely different story.
 

Henrik

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
63
0
18,630
If you are debating which OS to use, 64-bit or 32-bit... I say you should hands down go with the 64. Have you ever used a 64-bit OS? I have been using XP x64 for about a year and a half and I'm very pleased with it. Regardless of the processor, if it supports a 64-bit OS then there is no reason for you to install a 32 OS, IMO.
 

2Cb

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2006
70
0
18,630
Ive been doing the third pro64 install now and every time something is wrong:

- computer hangs during windows update
- after installing Geforce EN7950GX2 driver, the hourglass stays on the screen and i dont get the cursor + booting windows takes ages
- ... it is SO slow...

It seems there is something seriously wrong.

I might try the 32 bit version ... unless someone knows what is going on here? Why did it hung during windows update, could it be the 7950gx2 that is causing trouble?

darn...not sure what to do
 

2Cb

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2006
70
0
18,630
p.s. I'm running this config on an intel 975xbx mobo.

Jup, now when i boot, it hangs once it enters windows X64. Thats all it does. It keeps reading HD. This is after installation of the x64 en7950gx2 drivers.

Also I noticed after a clean install, when i enter windows and move around a window, its pretty laggy.
 

Logicsequence

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2004
432
0
18,780
p.s. I'm running this config on an intel 975xbx mobo.

Jup, now when i boot, it hangs once it enters windows X64. Thats all it does. It keeps reading HD. This is after installation of the x64 en7950gx2 drivers.

Also I noticed after a clean install, when i enter windows and move around a window, its pretty laggy.

you did install the forceware drivers for Windows x64 right?? the newest (only) one that's out that can run on XP x64 is 91.31.

It shouldn't be laggy at all, unless someting is wrong. did you put some kind of antivirus software on?

Make sure all your drivers are SPECIFICALLY for Windows XP Pro x64, not windows XP, and NOT Windows XP 64 bit edition (this is not the same as Windows XP Pro x64).
 

dthomason119

Distinguished
Jun 1, 2006
74
0
18,630
I have almost the exact same internal hardware set running 64 with no problems installing and running any application. I have ran Bitdefender, panda, Kaspersky, and e-trust anti-virus'. All hardware is running, even bluetooth enabled devices and software are running. I have had only one issue with respect to compatibility [Dell A940] printer, didn't have any drivers. No issues with game play or degradation of system performance on my 2 gigs of DDRII 667 with 64. Go with the 64x, you'll feel a lot better.
 

Logicsequence

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2004
432
0
18,780
I have almost the exact same internal hardware set running 64 with no problems installing and running any application. I have ran Bitdefender, panda, Kaspersky, and e-trust anti-virus'. All hardware is running, even bluetooth enabled devices and software are running. I have had only one issue with respect to compatibility [Dell A940] printer, didn't have any drivers. No issues with game play or degradation of system performance on my 2 gigs of DDRII 667 with 64. Go with the 64x, you'll feel a lot better.

That's the typical kind of reaction i've had with x64. Almost no problems at all. Except i had to get a new keyboard and mouse combo from logitech b/c their old ones dont have 64bit drivers. I've only had One game not work on x64, and it's an old game that has very little support built in.

to the topic's poster:
if you are still having video card issues, DOWNLOAD THESE drivers from nVidia.com, they are the newest drivers available for x64. Format your HDD, reinstall winXP x64, and be4 you do anything else install those video drivers.


P.S.
you said you are using a 7950gx2, are you sure your motherboard supports the 7950gx2? is it listed on nvidia's website as compatible?
 

2Cb

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2006
70
0
18,630
OK,

it seems the cause of the problem is an unrecoverable error on the hard disk. Somewhere around the 2 gig(of 300 gb hd) there is an unrecoverable error causing the instability. Once the os writes there, the comp hangs etc.

Is there any way you know of to disable the first 3 gig of the hard disk (with the windows recovery) and let the disk "start" from the 3rd gig and on?

This before i send the HD back to the shop :(
 
do you guys even realize what you're saying?

512Kb reads "five-hundred twelve kilabits"
512KB reads "five-hundred twelve kilabytes" or "five-twelve K" for short

it takes 8 bits to make a byte. divide 512Kb by 8 and thats your kilabytes.

gigabyte, megabyte, kilabyte, byte (me)

ass! learn your terminology for christ sakes!

Any amount of ram is supported > 512 kB or whatever Microsoft states, 1-2 gig will be pretty much the norm for now that you will find in systems released from OEMs or people build -- this is because for decent memory, 4 gigs will run 400 to 700 bucks and this is simply too expensive.

Don't think 512 would be a good idea; already tried it and it's crippling like having 256 on 32bit

Also, M25 says it HAS to be 64 bit and this is not necessarily true, you don't have to do anything. But I do strongly strongly encourage you to get a 64 bit capable system as once Vista hits the migration to 64 bit will increase in pace quite quickly.

I was talking about professional work (would be a sin to have the money and not installing 4-8M RAM) and the 10-15% boost is something you feel @ those levels.

512 kB -- yep, would not go below 1 gig myself, 2 gigs is affordable so most people will drive there.

MS quotes minimums so people with existing systems will buy the upgrade, minimums mean it will slow to a minimum :)
 
run recovery console and type "chkdsk /p" .. or /r ... w/e it is to scan the drive for bad sectors.

and no you cannot do that ...

OK,

it seems the cause of the problem is an unrecoverable error on the hard disk. Somewhere around the 2 gig(of 300 gb hd) there is an unrecoverable error causing the instability. Once the os writes there, the comp hangs etc.

Is there any way you know of to disable the first 3 gig of the hard disk (with the windows recovery) and let the disk "start" from the 3rd gig and on?

This before i send the HD back to the shop :(
 

zenmaster

Splendid
Feb 21, 2006
3,867
0
22,790
Wait for Vista.
There are VERY few x64 apps available now. Also don't expect any big speed increase yet. You can make a x64 partition if you want to play with FarCry 64 for example. I did that, but no big proformance increase. Don't go 64bit yet unless you want to do something very specific.

I expect FarCry2 (Crysis) with DX 10 will be a completely different story.

The best response in this entire thread.

Do not go XP-64 at the moment, there are too many potential software and driver conflicts. Feel free to dual-boot into XP64 to try it out.

Pesonally, I not even bother with XP-64. There is so little official support out there. I would dual boot into the Vista Beta so I would be ready to go full Vista shortly after it ships. (But long enough to let the 1st lemmers jump to their death and I can land on their soft cushy fur.)