[Kazan]

so i have a new system coming with an Althon 64 x2 AM2 (4200+) - what should I know (caveats) about 64-bit

should i acquire a copy of 64-bit winXP? or should i use regular 32-bit winXP?  any problems with FS2?

[edit]

if you're wondering (copy+paste from invoice, hence caps)

Mobo: MB MSI K9N PLATINUM (w/ 7.1 sound, lan)
CPU: A64 X2 4200+ AM2 2x512K (ARCTIC FREEZER 64 PRO heatsink/fan)
RAM: 1GB DDRII-800
Video: VGA GECUBE GC-RX1600G2-E3 (RoHS)  (That's a Radeon X1600 512MB)
Harddrive: 250GB SATA-3G/s

bringing over my DVD-burner from the old system and I have a 460W PSU

[BlackDove]

Seeing how Vista is getting out in just a few, I'd wait for that to be your x64. All versions will come in two architectures, except "starter" which only retards will use anyway.

[Kazan]

Seeing how Vista is getting out in just a few

how 'bout no

i never acquire the new version of windows until atleast SP1 of it to allow apps to get fixed for it's **** ups

[redmenace]

I think fs2 has a special 64bit PreProcessor Definition. Any 32-bit application supposedly uses 2x as much ram in a 64bit os.

[Turambar]

thats something i always wondered about myself.  people always tell me that windows 64 bit is buggy and ****ty and wont make my games run faster, so that seems to be the general verdict, but if you try it and like it i might just change my mind

[Fury]

64-bit Windows XP is faster when you run applications that supports x64 properly, 32-bit apps won't benefit from 64-bit OS and speed difference is usually ±5% at best/worst. But because Microsoft decided not to release a home version of WinXP x64 and retail version of both home and pro, it never gained much popularity except among the more tech savvy people.

In a sense Windows Vista is Microsoft's first 64-bit retail operating system for home computers and corporate workstations. Next year we should see rapid improvement in 64-bit compatibility and new 64-bit applications, which should also benefit WinXP x64.

WinXP x64 shines when running CPU-heavy 64-bit applications such as media encoders or renderers, games are more often GPU/VPU-limited rather than CPU. Still, to make the most out of your brand new multi-core CPU's, you should get 64-bit operating system as well. WinVista is likely to outperform WinXP when the first Service Pack is released and drivers have matured.

There are some installers and applications which simply refuse to work under WinXP x64, some will work if you use compatibility mode but not all. Fortunately these are rare but it might not be much of a consolation if one of your favorite games or apps happens to be one of these.

[Nix]

Also, keep in mind that XP x64 is based on Server 03's codebase, so it's not going to handle exactly like XP will.  That might be a good thing though.  XP x64 really showed me no real improvement except for a slightly more responsive system.  You WILL need twice the RAM though.  It's like 98 -> xp, where in 98 you could get away with 256 mb of RAM, and in XP, 512 is a bare minimum.  1GB will soon be the absolute bare minimum soon, and 2GB will probably be the standard "comfort zone" for most users. 

What turned me away from it honestly though was that my firewall didn't have x64 support, and ran like crap in 32bit mode.  Outpost now supports 64 bit, but if I were going to run anything in 64, I'd go Linux or Vista, and keep XP 32bit. 

[Bob-san]

How old are you, dude? If you're under 18... I'd say go right now to WinXP! Why? Because if your guardians want to punish you... they can setup caps on everything! There are ESRP rating controls, IM blockers, Forum blockers, Email blockers, even timers on the net and games!!! They could (theoretically) logon to your computer...

The only way you could stop this is to make an admin account that can add users... set the stuff for your own normal account, and block only adding users. Since I'm 15 (16 in Dec.) I'm going to ask for WinXP SP2 because it has none of the blockers...

[Nix]

Dude.. it's Kazan.. he's married... and that signature is by far unnecessary, and frankly, it's going to piss someone off soon. Dump it.
 

[redmenace]

ROFL, his signature, is longer than his POST.

[Kazan]

takes twice as much memory? that doesn't make the slightest bit of sense - i can imagine several methods which could cause it, but all of them would prevent the program from functioning or suffer extremely nasty slow downs

[Taristin]

Vista 64 only accepts digitally signed drivers. 32-bit doesnt because of backwards compatability.

However, Im on Vista 64, and am quite enjoying it.

[Unknown Target]

@ Bob-san asking how old Kazan is...

And yea, your sig is too big.

[Shadow0000]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/x64benefits.mspx

The Scalability bump, it's one of the main adventages that any 64-Bit OS can offer, you have almost twice the amount of registers, and the processor should be able to execute a 64-Bit instruction in one call.

Of course if no one code taking adventages of this, it is almost believing that if you have a quad core processor your game will run faster when is not coded to do so...emulators which heavy depends on CPU could potentially benefit from 64-Bit implementations, but there is none, yet...

[Kazan]

well i'll probably end up running 64-bit and work on trying to get FS2 running dual-core 64-bit smoothly if someone else hasn't already *cough*taylor*cough*

[Mars]

Dude.. it's Kazan.. he's married... and that signature is by far unnecessary, and frankly, it's going to piss someone off soon. Dump it.
 

A couple of couples in my high-school are married, so this isn't really a good indicator of age.

[WMCoolmon]

Yeah, my friend was just metioning the other day how her sister was going to move in with her husband.

Me: How old is she?
Her: 19.

Kids these days...

[Turambar]

i'll bet she wants to start a family too..

honestly, the people best suited to be raising children are the people who have the sense to put it off until later.

[Descenterace]

How old are you, dude? If you're under 18... I'd say go right now to WinXP! Why? Because if your guardians want to punish you... they can setup caps on everything! There are ESRP rating controls, IM blockers, Forum blockers, Email blockers, even timers on the net and games!!! They could (theoretically) logon to your computer...

The only way you could stop this is to make an admin account that can add users... set the stuff for your own normal account, and block only adding users. Since I'm 15 (16 in Dec.) I'm going to ask for WinXP SP2 because it has none of the blockers...

WinXP's application access control is a joke. I tried using it on the family computer to prevent my Dad from breaking the OS (which happens on average once every two to three months) but I had to remove it when he wanted to use the software that came with his digital camera.
That piece-of-**** application didn't just need root in order to install. It needed root just to run. And don't get me started on those MSN Messenger games my sister's so fond of, which also require ridiculous security permissions to install.

I hope Vista gets it right, because right now there is no Windows OS which can be practically used at home with anything less than a full Administrator account.

[SadisticSid]

My notebook ran very well on x64 with 1GB RAM. 32-bit applications occupy the same memory footprint that they do on 32-bit systems. Their 64-bit equivalents don't necessarily occupy twice the memory because of compiler optimizations, although it will invariably be higher. So if all you plan to do is run 32-bit stuff on your system you only need to worry about Windows' increased footprint RAM-wise.