another Windows XP 32 bit or 64 bit question

[alladinsane]

So, what do you guys think? If one is installing a new OS on a new system, should the jump to 64 bit be made? Or should I wait and just install the 32 bit xp for now? There is no real benefit yet, right? So give me some opinions here pls

zip

 

[fishmahn]

My opinion, and I think the general consensus here is: Not Yet.

64bit hardware drivers are still scarce.
64bit versions of programs that can take advantage of 64 bit OS are scarce.
In general you need more RAM with 64bit OS - 1gig is supposed to be similar to 512meg on a 32bit OS. Dont' know how true that is - I'm still calling it rumor (though I do know 64bit OS uses more RAM because pages are larger).
If there's a specific program you use that has a 64bit version and it runs faster than the 32bit one, then it may be worth it if all your hardware has 64bit drivers available.

Mike.

 

[Atolsammeek]

I m going to be installing windows 64 Pro soon. But as backup I will have windows xp Pro. Untel I get all the bugs out. So I will see windows boot screen do you want windows 64 or xp. See what stop me was My Mouse keyboard setup with a logitech mouse With 8 buttons. The setup I'm getting is Logitech fx 3100 keyboard mouse setup total of 9 buttons
3 on the side.
2 on top plus 2 normal buttons
Then the scroll button with right and left Which I will use as buttons.

 

[Rob423]

IMO as well i think 64 bit is just not needed as of yet. No advantages of it yet.. Not much software out there to take advantage of it.

 

[Atolsammeek]

I'm starting to see software like games and such take avantage of 64bit os.

See I rather wait on the Dual core and see what happens Then upgrade that later.

 

[Bruxbox]

As a general rule, most of the major motherboard manufacturers like Asus, Abit, and MSI have 64bit drivers for their MB chipsets, and for built-in MB devices like audio, NIC, 1394 controllers, and USB controllers.

If the the MB manufacturer doesn't have 64bit drivers, Nvidia, ATI, and Via will certainly have 64bit drivers for all of their chipsets. Moreover, C-media and Realtek have 64bit drivers for their primary audio chipsets found on many MBs.

64-bit drivers for some of the more popular printer models come with the Winx64 installation CD. Just make sure that your printer is connected and powered on when you are installing the OS. If the Winx64 CD has proper printer drivers, they will get installed like other devices.

As for other hardware, check these two sources:

AMD's Big List of 64bit drivers

3DVelocity's 64bit Hardware Compatibility List

Between these two sites, you should be able to determine whether your preferred hardware devices have 64bit drivers. Of course, you could check the individual device manufacturer's websites because they release new 64bit drivers all the time. For example, Epson just put up 64bit drivers for my new Aculaser CX11NF color laser multifunction printer.

As for software, almost all major 32bit applications can run in Winx64, including pc games. In fact, my 32bit pc games run as well as or better in Winx64 as in WinXP. For example, Far Cry 32bit runs just as fast under Win x64 than under Win XP Pro in my dual-boot system. Of course, Far Cry 64bit is nice, too.

I'd guess that Win x64 is backwards compatible with 90% of all 32bit software.

 

[Bruxbox]

I'm starting to see software like games and such take avantage of 64bit os.

See I rather wait on the Dual core and see what happens Then upgrade that later.

Atol

I'd like to get to dual core as well.

Incidentally, it seems that you and I joined Tom's Hardware forums on the same date.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

In general you need more RAM with 64bit OS - 1gig is supposed to be similar to 512meg on a 32bit OS. Dont' know how true that is - I'm still calling it rumor (though I do know 64bit OS uses more RAM because pages are larger).

This both is and isn't true. Like anything, it's blown very much out of proportion.

It really depends entirely on the software developer.

A good software developer will be smart enough to identify what integers in their code only need to be 32-bit and will assign them as 32-bit integers, thereby saving memory.

A lazy software developer will just convert all 32-bit integers to 64-bit integers and cause all integers to take up twice the memory.

Even if done the lazy way, this will still only inflate x86 integer use, which while still common, is becoming more and more rare. (Floating point, SSE-based ops, etc. use different systems.) So even in the lazy way, it still won't be double the memory use.

And this all only applies to actual 64-bit software. Since most software is still 32-bit anyway, this makes it even more rare.

Now, all that aside, the future when 64-bit becomes a lot more common will start to look pretty bleak. Expect memory usage to jump when 64-bit apps become commonplace. It still won't be double, but it will jump up noticably, even with good developers. (And those are few and far between.)