Is Windows XP-Pro "64 bit" real?

[Artic_Kid]

I'm seeing MS Windows XP-Professional 64 bit bundled for sale with the AMD Athlon X2 processors. I'm concidering getting that bundle. However, I have a question: Is Windows XP-Pro 64 bit real? (Note, I'm specifically asking about the "64 bit" version, not the previous 32 bit version.)

By "real" I mean, are there a full ranger of drivers readily available for it? Or will I be stuck in limbo, unable to get drivers for various things -- such as games, or printers, or firewire ports, or ethernet ports, or sound cards, or compilers, etc. How is the 64 bit version for gaming? How is it for software development? How is it for research, or business? That is, is the 64 bit version really real? Or would I be a stupid MS guinea-pig to buy it now?

The reason I ask is because I've run into that kind of difficulty before -- with Window NT. I got NT with the first wave, thinking I would future-proof my computer and be ahead of the game. It turned out just the opposite. For years the right drivers weren't available for it, and it put me way behind.

Any thoughts on this?

[kempez]

to be honest IMHO you want to wait for Vista if you want to be truly future-proof (at least for a while). Stick with 32bit till M$ sort out all their drivers and companies actually produce 64bit and multi-threaded apps

[Hottentot]

No its not 'real' you will not be able to get drivers for all hardware.
Some of your applications (eg firewalls, antivirus) will need to be upgraded to 64 bit versions and a lot of the software is at the beta stage.
Not saying you can't get a perfectly working 64 bit system but it will take a lot of time and effort.

[Paul Adams]

Any thoughts on this?

A bit of research on the hardware you have should let you know if the manufacturers have XP x64 drivers available.

Only my servers are 32-bit now (as the processors are 32-bit), my main rigs now only run XP x64 and 64-bit Vista.
The only piece of kit I don't have a native 64-bit driver for is my HP printer - but I can work around this by using a compatible built-in driver (HP DeskJet 990c).

For AV I use Avast 4.6 which I am very happy with, but until ZoneLabs produce a 64-bit version of Zone Alarm Pro I'll use the standard Windows firewall for now.
(I tried Tiny Firewall 64 but it has one of the worst interfaces I have seen and was far too cumbersome to configure.)

Another thing to bear in mind is that there is zero 16-bit support in 64-bit versions of Windows - so no ancient programs and no 16-bit installers will work.

Not quite sure why people refer to Microsoft "sorting out their drivers" as the drivers are produced by the manufacturers of the hardware & software.

[DavidM]

Another thing to bear in mind is that there is zero 16-bit support in 64-bit versions of Windows - so no ancient programs and no 16-bit installers will work.

No Monkey Island?

[directhex]

No Monkey Island?

use scummvm. you could probably compile a win64-native version trivially, infact

[BUFF]

I know someone that works for MS in Seattle - he says wait for Vista

[peterb]

Fedora Core 4!!

[TheAnimus]

I heard DOS BOX is working with 64bit for your old games.

As for 64bit applications, few applications will run faster, quite simple most don't need 32bit, indeed 24bit is enough. The net effect will be slower because of HDD bottle neck *rant rant rant*

but for clever games, multimedia tasks where you want 64bit maths, or can do cunning tricks with more bit-arithmatic, its useful.

A browser, an email client, etc. are mostly 16bit really, little need for 32bit integer maths. But as soon as you move to a "platform" you have to start using the platform's idea of handles, now these always have to be the standard length. So when you run a "32bit" program on 64bit windows, it runs in a specail thunking environment (thunking because the handles are all 64bit, but are given 32bit referances, which have to be "thunked" to 64bit outside of the appliation, this takes time). So thats the only way a 64bit version can be faster. But as i was experimenting (on a stripped raid of 10k rpm scsi drives) there is a longer load time on the same program thats 64bit vrs 32bit..... So for a lot of users (like my mum + grandparents) its going to be a waste of money, thats slightly slower.

[aidanjt]

Fedora Core 4!!

Yes well we all know that Linux is able to run purely in native 64bit.. But as TheAnimus mentioned the main applications for 64bit addressing is media, gaming, and scientific.. Every day software will receive a performance hit.

[Skinleech]

use scummvm. you could probably compile a win64-native version trivially, infact

Scummvm works fine in X64 as is.

As for drivers etc, there are things you can't get drivers for - printers, webcams, mobiles, bluetooth. Everything have works for me - both mp3 players, wireless keyboard/mouse, gfx & sound card.

[peterb]

Yes well we all know that Linux is able to run purely in native 64bit.. But as TheAnimus mentioned the main applications for 64bit addressing is media, gaming, and scientific.. Every day software will receive a performance hit.

I know - it was a cheap shot!! (hangs head in shame)