Windows Home 32bit vs. Pro 64bit

[blade995]

Well my uncle gets cheap legal copies of Windows XP from his work. I was wondering what improvements would I see going from 32bit to 64bit Windows?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I would do if I switched would be dual boot from Home and Pro and switch everything over gradually and then when finished delete Home from the hard drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know how to dual boot so there's no problem there, unless it's different doing it with 2 windows operating systems than 1 Linux and 1 windows? (which I've done the later).

[Diminished2b]

WINXP 64-bit is buggy with poor driver support.. waste of life.

[Albosky]

The main question would be , do you have the hardware to run a 64-bit operating system and software. Its not a simple case of installing Windows and off you go .

[JoeDaStudd]

The main question would be , do you have the hardware to run a 64-bit operating system and software. Its not a simple case of installing Windows and off you go .

 

 

 

Yep you'll have to know if your processor supports 64-bit.

 

 

 

From what I've heard you only get a 5 to 10% increase in performance at the cost of, lack of drivers, more bugs and general trouble.

 

 

 

32 Vs 64 Bit

 

 

 

In my opinion 32 bit wins for the moment.

[Jaakilju]

If I remember correctly it's a big hassle to install 2 windowses to dual-boot.. I don't know why, but I remember reading something like that from somewhere, though I could be totally wrong. Just use linux. :wink:

[Diminished2b]

If I remember correctly it's a big hassle to install 2 windowses to dual-boot.. I don't know why, but I remember reading something like that from somewhere, though I could be totally wrong. Just use linux. :wink:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, it's actually quite easy. You install one, then you stick the other disk in and install it.

[Anesthesia]

It is indeed easy. It just comes up shortly after POST asking which OS you want to boot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my opinion XP x64 isn't worth it. A friend of mine used it and he said there were plenty of programs which were incompatible and it was really hard to find drivers.

[Cruiser]

Once vista is released and 64 bit drivers are pretty much forced on the market by OEMs and the like, things for XP Pro-64 should get better, but that's still months off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I personally didn't have any issues with the programs I installed during the betas, but that wasn't a very wide range and were still fairly basic, everyday stuff.

[Diminished2b]

Once vista is released and 64 bit drivers are pretty much forced on the market by OEMs and the like, things for XP Pro-64 should get better, but that's still months off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I personally didn't have any issues with the programs I installed during the betas, but that wasn't a very wide range and were still fairly basic, everyday stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vista x86_64 != WINXP x86_64

 

 

 

If you make drivers for one it'll likely not be compatible with the other.

[blade995]

The main question would be , do you have the hardware to run a 64-bit operating system and software. Its not a simple case of installing Windows and off you go .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I have a 64bit proccesor, I should have mentioned that in the first post, sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked for drivers for 64bit to see if there were any and all my components had a 64bit version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here's my my other question does the cost justify the 10% speed increase? My uncle said he can get them from work at OEM prices so it's pretty cheap. I just gotta ask him how cheap :) .

[Cruiser]

 

Once vista is released and 64 bit drivers are pretty much forced on the market by OEMs and the like, things for XP Pro-64 should get better, but that's still months off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I personally didn't have any issues with the programs I installed during the betas, but that wasn't a very wide range and were still fairly basic, everyday stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vista x86_64 != WINXP x86_64

 

 

 

If you make drivers for one it'll likely not be compatible with the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reread my post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never said one would work with the other. I said the release of Vista will drive the 64-bit transition. 64-bit is still in its infancy on the windows side of the fence. Developers will either start writing 64 bit drivers to support Vista and XP-64 or lose the entire OEM market. It would be rather stupid to support Vista and not support XP when a lot of places will still be using XP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shouldn't jump to conclusions about something I never wrote. :?

[Diminished2b]

I don't see any valid reasons to stay with a soon-to-be unsupported operating system, therefor I made the assumption that most will be switching to Vista. No company wants to spend time/money on drivers if theres only 2% of their customers using it.

[runesmithie]

 

The main question would be , do you have the hardware to run a 64-bit operating system and software. Its not a simple case of installing Windows and off you go .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I have a 64bit proccesor, I should have mentioned that in the first post, sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked for drivers for 64bit to see if there were any and all my components had a 64bit version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here's my my other question does the cost justify the 10% speed increase? My uncle said he can get them from work at OEM prices so it's pretty cheap. I just gotta ask him how cheap :) .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I know, OEM prices are still in the $80s and up

[Cruiser]

I don't see any valid reasons to stay with a soon-to-be unsupported operating system, therefor I made the assumption that most will be switching to Vista. No company wants to spend time/money on drivers if theres only 2% of their customers using it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assumptions are bad. They get people into trouble. :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Few companies are stupid enough to roll out the very first version of a brand new MS operating system. XP will be supported for quite some time to come, especially with so many corporate users just now rolling it out. Windows 98 was only just recently dropped from the supported list. XP has quite a while to go, even if the OEMs start pushing Vista out onto the consumer market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just because YOU don't see a valid reason doesn't mean there aren't several out there.

[Diminished2b]

What's the relation between Vista forcing companies to make x86_64 drivers, and WinXp 'x64' getting them?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You state that Vista will be making companies do it, therefor Vista will have drivers. Considering Vista and XP need different Drivers, I don't see the relation. Just because the drivers were ported to a x86_64 operating system doesn't necessarily make it easier to port it to another x86_64 operating system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows XP x64 isn't Windows XP in the sense that Windows XP isn't Windows Vista, it's not much older than Vista, so why would people want to switch to it? Do you think after Vista is out, they'll actually keep heavily developing on it?

[Kinslayer777]

OEM for XP i think was 94 or 84 dollars.

 

 

 

(http://www.newegg.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldnt get it (unless you're getting one of them anyway, in that case it'd be a more borderline decisson). It's a meak 'upgrade' considering the cons.

 

 

 

84 dollars could be better spent most likely, depending on your rig.

[blade995]

Well I guess I'm not going to get it if there's only 10% speed increase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your help guys.

[zonda]

is it true DX10 is only going to be compatible with vista?

[Cruiser]

is it true DX10 is only going to be compatible with vista?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I'm not gonna bother continuing the driver argument. We both have our own views on why and why not to support xp-64, so I'll just leave it at that. :