How many 64-bit processors are running on a 64-bit OS

Just wondering about the benefits of using XP Pro 64-bit over 32-bit. Any significant speed increases? Any compatibility issues with games or in general?

I was running both, each on separate hdds. But I found myself never using the x64. It was "interesting", but there was no discernable gain or benefit that I personally experienced, primarily because of lack of apps. It installed easily onto a sata drive, that was easy. A lot of 32 bit apps worked on it, but not any better than on 32 bit XP. Intereting that I could not get Flight Sim 2004, a MS product, to work on the x64. But Office XP worked fine, no different from XP 32 bit, however. Plus, drivers were a hassle though there were workarounds in some instances, e.g., printers. In any case, now I use the drive that had x64 as a dedicated backup drive for the drive that holds XP 32 bit.

The cautionary tales of driver problems kept me from going 64 bit on my system. Once drivers are more available and more software designed to take advantage of it I might consider moving over. Who knows by then Vista might be out.

I'm waiting for MS Vista like most people.

Quote: Originally Posted by alex666
Intereting that I could not get Flight Sim 2004, a MS product, to work on the x64.

Funnily enough, back in the day it was the acid test of 'IBM clones' to be able to run MS Flight Sim.

The only device I have had any trouble with in XP64 is my sony digital camera. No joy.
So I'll boot to XP Pro if I want to hook up that camera to that box.

I am actually using both, on my raid 0 I am using xp 32 and on my Maxtor IDE I have XP 64, I refer to that as my work in progress drive.

Dual Booting XP Pro and x64 only device not supported at this time in x64 is my Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar (no drivers) I fear Thrustmaster have orphaned this product.

Okay. All of this begs the question of whether x64 provides any significant benefit at this time. In other words, is anyone getting BETTER performance with any program using x64 vs. 32-bit XP? Thanks.

marty

Nope...I've experimented with Windows 2003 x64. Had it on my desktop for about 3 months.

Drivers were no problem. nVidia are red hot when it comes to driver support. X-Fi's have x64 Drivers, Unsupported Adaptec 19160 SCSI Card had satisfactory drivers provided by Microsoft. Hell, even the XBox->USB controller even had x64 builds.

Speed increases were as expected, negligible.

A lot of software won't work. Alcohol 120%, most VPN software, Virtual PC, any explorer add-ins etc.

So, overall, there's no gain until 4Gb Ram becomes the norm.

The bottom line is that there will be no real gain in speed from x64 as it is only an extension to x86. x86 is a comparatively inefficient architecture, being designed in the 60’s when the CPU as we know it was in it’s infancy.
64bit is nothing new, (Think everything from Nintendo 64 to Casio PocketPC’s were 64bit, running native 64bit code.)
Also, (Im not 100% certain on this one. Please correct if ar5e about face….) MMX and SIMD can do 128bit operations by using multiple registers. (Damn…never learnt ASM!)
Finally the 16->32bit leap was a leap forward as 65536 (2^16) is not a large number when high precision is needed (eg: 3d in fixed point math.) whereas 4.12billion (2^32) provides reasonable precision for most tasks . (when not using floating point) a programmer will need and 2^64 is superfluous for consumer applications….

…but then, for quantum physics simulations……or traversing the neural network than has decided that this beer tastes so good....

xp64 is supposed to just be for the software makers to get ready for vista.

i guess the 64bit version of vista will really take advantage of 64bit processors and applications.

we shall see though.

Quote: Originally Posted by gamefreaks
Nope...I've experimented with Windows 2003 x64. Had it on my desktop for about 3 months.

Drivers were no problem. nVidia are red hot when it comes to driver support. X-Fi's have x64 Drivers, Unsupported Adaptec 19160 SCSI Card had satisfactory drivers provided by Microsoft. Hell, even the XBox->USB controller even had x64 builds.

Speed increases were as expected, negligible.

A lot of software won't work. Alcohol 120%, most VPN software, Virtual PC, any explorer add-ins etc.

So, overall, there's no gain until 4Gb Ram becomes the norm.

The bottom line is that there will be no real gain in speed from x64 as it is only an extension to x86. x86 is a comparatively inefficient architecture, being designed in the 60’s when the CPU as we know it was in it’s infancy.
64bit is nothing new, (Think everything from Nintendo 64 to Casio PocketPC’s were 64bit, running native 64bit code.)
Also, (Im not 100% certain on this one. Please correct if ar5e about face….) MMX and SIMD can do 128bit operations by using multiple registers. (Damn…never learnt ASM!)
Finally the 16->32bit leap was a leap forward as 65536 (2^16) is not a large number when high precision is needed (eg: 3d in fixed point math.) whereas 4.12billion (2^32) provides reasonable precision for most tasks . (when not using floating point) a programmer will need and 2^64 is superfluous for consumer applications….

…but then, for quantum physics simulations……or traversing the neural network than has decided that this beer tastes so good....

A really appreciate this post, just like all the others. Makes you wonder and really pisses me off microsoft couldnt offer any forsite into this now well known facts. I dont like being jerked around by any company esp one that has been prosecuted by our government.

I havent had the energy to protest these pigs so even though I know enough to justify it it GOLD.

We all can forgive some for the sake of the evolution of anything but I think all of this windows xp public longhorn OS BAIT •••••••• is really an excuse to be pissed off. I hope it was was worth it M$.

I have no problem with a x64 Windows. No problem, if there's no 64bit OS, then there's no 64bit apps being developed...chicken or egg?

The problem is the licence agreement for paying customers.

I think for a while, Microsoft will allow people to trade 32bit keys for 64bit keys.

So you trade you're bone-fide 32bit Windows for 64bit, and discover that a lot of your programs don't work...and there's no going back. Ok, you can download a 180Day trial, but you can't test programs and games that you may buy in the near future.

So, why does the licence aggreement not work thus:

You have a licenced copy of WindowsXP. You can install either the 32 or 64bit versions, as long as only one is in use at a time. You have to activate anyway, so if by activating your 32bit copy it disables activation of the 64bit copy and vice-versa, you can change between them as you like and the activation system will stop you using them both at the same time on different computers.

I have a duel boot system, I still use XP 32 as my main OS, I have XP 64 on a seperate drive , and treat it like a work in progress.

Quote: Originally Posted by The Captain
I have a duel boot system, I still use XP 32 as my main OS, I have XP 64 on a seperate drive , and treat it like a work in progress.

The problem there is that (legally) it requires 2 WindowsXP licences...

Quote: Originally Posted by gamefreaks
The problem there is that (legally) it requires 2 WindowsXP licences...
And? Lots of people, myself included own legal licenses for both. Actually i have legal copies of 4 types of windows.