Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Fury on April 26, 2005, 02:32:08 pm
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So who else is jumping on the 64bit bandwagon?
I own two Athlon 64 systems and just today installed the new WinXP (legal, mind you) on the other system. First impressions:
- PATA/SATA RAID driver support poor. No big suprise here really. Had to resort to the old legacy floppy disk drive. The poor bastard just won't die already.
- Poor initial driver support from VIA. Their latest beta SATA RAID drivers cause infinite boot-loop. Had to modify the drivers by hand to get them properly installed.
- XP x64 does have relatively good standard driver support. Only had to install SATA RAID driver, NIC driver and Audigy 2 ZS drivers. Of course I also installed ATI drivers to get OpenGL and ATI Control Panel.
- Responsiveness and performance of the new XP x64 is quite impressive, even compared to the 32bit XP (SP2).
- All applications that use system drivers to function needs to be updated to support the new XP x64. This includes virtual CD/DVD-drive softwares such as Daemon Tools. And of course anti-virus and firewall softwares.
- Still waiting x64 API's such as Java and .NET Framework to be released.
Even though initial driver and software support can be a little depressing, I am sure the x64 edition is a very good performer until M$ releases their "Longhorn" OS. Hopefully all major hardware manufacturers will release final versions of their x64 drivers in the next 48 hours after MS put the trial version available for download. Again hopefully all good applications will be updated to support x64 where necessary in the next seven days.
I know, won't happen. Unless you don't mind looking for and using beta drivers and possible software, I suggest to wait at least two weeks and maybe four weeks before upgrading to XP x64. Me? I sure won't be switching back to the old XP unless I encounter some serious issues. But before upgrading my other A64 system, I'll be possibly waiting a while. Just in a case I need to use apps that won't work on my XP x64.
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Not worth it. Unless one of the features is "Makes your computer run 300% faster, and delivers free pizza to your door" it's too much hassle for too little improvement.
There's a legal 120 day free trial, just so everyone knows.
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I have also noticed the VIA chip drivers are unusually unstable.
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i also have an athlon64, i am still waiting for the techsites here in sweden to test it
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Originally posted by Mr. Fury
(legal, mind you).
They're all currently legal as far as I know.
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I'm planning on getting it, but I'm getting rather annoyed at Newegg while I'm waiting for it to get into stock.
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Originally posted by Rictor
Not worth it.
There's the hassle right after the launch when hardware manufacturers haven't yet released final drivers on their websites. Most people should wait a while before upgrading, but it's worth it once availability of drivers improves. XP x64 is required to get everything out of your A64 or new EMT64 P4, unless you use linux.
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Originally posted by MatthewPapa
I have also noticed the VIA chip drivers are unusually unstable.
Wouldnt this be due to the motherboard in particular, or have you just noticed they're unstable in just about every system you've worked withm VIA wise? I had a bad, really bad MSI board for my A64 setup I'm using right now, before I switched it out for an Asus board of the same chipset. I think the only thing that could have helped that board would involve gunpowder or napalm... but anyways, the VIA 4in1's (hyperion, whatevah) on my Asus system have served very well, even the IDE accelerator drivers that replace Windows's standard drivers work well. Of course I'm running under XP Pro 32 bit. I've tried the x64 beta for a while and had mixed feelings about it, probably due to the OS being in Beta...
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Originally posted by Nix
Wouldnt this be due to the motherboard in particular, or have you just noticed they're unstable in just about every system you've worked withm VIA wise? I had a bad, really bad MSI board for my A64 setup I'm using right now, before I switched it out for an Asus board of the same chipset. I think the only thing that could have helped that board would involve gunpowder or napalm... but anyways, the VIA 4in1's (hyperion, whatevah) on my Asus system have served very well, even the IDE accelerator drivers that replace Windows's standard drivers work well. Of course I'm running under XP Pro 32 bit. I've tried the x64 beta for a while and had mixed feelings about it, probably due to the OS being in Beta...
Actually, it is a MSI board! Do you happen to remember your model?
*goes off to get his*
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I use Ubuntu.
My AMD 64 works fine here. :) The only things that've given me trouble are Cedega and my sound card.
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So who else is jumping on the 64bit bandwagon?
OLD! :p
I've running 64bit for nearly two years! now...