Just to expand on previous folks posts. I'm currently running Windows XP x64 on my Core2 6600. It works great, "except", as was also mentioned, good luck at times finding software and/or drivers. I ran into an issue, for example, when I tried to get some overclocking software for my Nvidia 8800gtx. You can find it for x64 Vista, but not XP-64. I hear it's similar in reverse for some things. As to what and where you'll notice a difference using the 64bit version... I disagree with many who said it was pointless to load x64 on a gaming rig, but I figured I'd try it anyway. I'm currently running it and it seems to do great for gaming, video and music, which is primarily what I use my computer for.
While benchmarks tell some of the story, you really don't know till you try it with what you are working with, or by stating exactly what you are trying to do with it. If you're doing Photoshop or something like that, 64 bit is the way to go, in general. If you're running 1gb ram and doing basic MS Word, you probably won't notice much difference by going x64. I find that almost everything that I want to run in the 64-bit environment is available or compatible, though as I mentioned, some of the nifty utilities that you can download from various websites are often not created to work in the 64 bit environment.
That's not to say the old 32-bit apps won't work, but some will tell you that you can't even install them because they aren't designed for your system. From what I've read, this trend continues in Vista.
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