Windows XP x64, Promise and Reality

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Test Setup

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Processor
Single Core CPU AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 (2.8 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache)
Dual Core CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (2.4 GHz, 2x 1 MB L2 Cache)
Memory
AMD Platform (DDR400) 2x 512 MB - DDR400 (200 MHz)Corsair Pro Series CMX512-3200XL (XMS3208 V1.1)(CL2.0-2-2-5-1T @ 200 MHz)
Motherboards
AMD Platform Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe (Rev. 1.02, BIOS 1007)NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Chipset
System Hardware
Graphics Card (PCIe) NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT (Reference Board)GPU : NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT (350 MHz)Memory : 256 MB DDR-SDRAM (500 MHz)
Hard Drive Western Digital WD740 Raptor74 GB, 8 MB Cache, 10,000 rpm
Network integrated NVIDIA GbE Ethernet
DVD-ROM Gigabyte GO-D1600C (16x)
Power Supply Tagan TG480-U01, ATX 2.0, 480 W
Software
Chipset Drivers NVIDIA Forceware 6.53
Chipset Drivers x64 NVIDIA Forceware 6.66
Processor Driver AMD CPU Driver 1.1.0.18
Graphics Driver NVIDIA Forceware 71.84
DirectX Version : 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
OS 32 Bit Windows XP Professional 5.20.3790,Service Pack 2
OS 64 Bit Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600,Service Pack 2
Patrick Schmid
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mr roboto
    Woah there's a 64 bit Windows now? What's next 128 bit versions. As I'm still rocking my 8 bit NES.
    Reply
  • oneof10
    Thank you for the article. Though this article may seem outdated and therefore fairly irrelevant, I just happened upon a free copy of XP 64 and was exploring the value in dual booting my XP 32 system. Thanks for saving me a potential headache for very little benefit.
    Reply
  • iLoveWOW
    I found an OEM copy at Tveak.com for only $59.99 + free shipping. Great! :))
    Reply
  • iLoveWOW
    ilovewowI found an OEM copy at Tveak.com for only $89.99 + free shipping. Great! )
    Reply
  • I found some newer games that would not work on Win7 (and fyi, Win7 XP mode is *not* for gamers, no 3D graphics) so I dual booted with WinXP x64. Thankfully I had a great system driver disk, though at this time availability of 64 bit drivers is not the issue it used to be.
    But ... lemme say WinXP x64 ROCKS ... I was getting some butter-smooth frame rates with every video setting max'd. Yeah, I know there's multicore CPU, a GPU, chipset, etc. in the picture ... but just a gut check tells me that data is *flying* in there, even if it is 32 bit code. The OS overhead must be much less or something.
    Reply
  • bakra downloads
    what i learned today is not to trust idiots at tomshardware
    windows xp 64 bit is godlike
    it's performance is mind blowing
    I would pay money to anybody who can get me a windows xp 64 working on newer hardware (like HP laptops)
    newer hardware only supports windows 7 64
    windows 7 64 is nothing when u compare it to windows xp 64

    dunno why it is so "butter smooth" and fast. I speculate win xp 64 less drivers (eg. hibernation is not supported) thus less DPC processing and more butter smoothness
    Reply