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Windows XP -64 worth looking at?


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Was wondering, now that I have a 64 bit system, if Windows XP -64 is worth playing with? I know very few programs take advantage of the 64 bit instruction at the moment but other than that is it a viable main OS? Will games, encoding apps and other things still play well with it?

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I recently reformated my drive when I got my XP x64 edition through the technology advancement program, but I had already used the public preview version and knew that all of my hardware had drivers for it and all of my software was working.

 

Any actual performance gains are usually negligible, but things like video encoding, encryption, compression etc. have relatively large gains, since the profit from the largr number of registers the cpu offers.

If you have a version lying around, you should do a dual boot system just to see how it works for you and if everything is working.

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Although x64 is now official and now no longer in Beta, a lot of drivers and software either is

 

a) still in beta

B) not being written at all.... for now...

 

I had been using x64 for about a month or so, and I just had to go back to 32bit XP. Reasons?... welll

 

1) No Demon Tools etc.. (I know D-Tools 4 is coming soon..but its just that... soon.. has been soon for a few months) I missed being able to mount ISO's complete with Protection emulation. Theres nothing right now that can do this in x64 properly.

 

2) If you have any games that use the very uncrackable StarForce Protection scheme, forget it. Starforce say that the publisher must change the driver support to x64 and the publishers say that Starforce will release the driver soon. Starforce ahve released the driver but its upto the publisher to incorporate the protection scheme changes.. catch 22 all over.. Games Like Splinter Cell : Chaos Theory use StarForce Protection.

 

3) Some odd problems opening the odd executables saying its not written for this version of Windows.use Windows XP (but I AM USING windows XP .. 64 bit dammit)..

 

4) Printer support is slim at beat with HP Printers.. Esp the All in ones... Scan Qaulity is aweful right now and theres no Offical versions till "late this year"

 

5) Webcam support again poor at best.. Creative still havent even got a beta driver out yet..

 

I will revisit x64 again later in the year. But if you have any Starforce protected games, Use D-Tools, or other stuff that has 32-bit drivers (like Data Pilot, and other stuff) then I would dual boot ony and not use it as your primary OS, just yet....

 

people are just slow on the driver uptake on the x64 atm..

 

Oh well

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I have windows XP-64 on my 20 gig hard drive for about 2 months now. There is not enough support out for this OS yet. Some of the big hardware companies are not jumping on to the 64bit bandwagon for a while because it is far from being a mainstream OS. It was fun to test but thats about it.

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