Windows 64 XP PRO

[jcnoernberg]

When I get an amd64, i'll upgrade to win64. I'm seeing it on ebay for around $120.00, claiming full sealed retail. Why is it so cheap? i haven't looked into retail prices yet.

The ultimate question, will I notice a difference in all my applications? I just don't know what to expect when I upgrade, being that I've never used anything beyond a 32bit.

I also noticed that you HAVE to have 64bit drivers? Is this going to be a problem, or is everything pretty much available?

[pentachris]

Yes it is likely to be a problem getting drivers (and some apps) to run on Win64. Why are you wanting to go with that OS? In this case, having "the latest thing" is going to cause some headaches. There are very few, if any, apps that are 64 bit optimized.

You might want to check out the second and third paragraphs on this page (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1789172,00.asp):

Lacking 64-bit programs to test, we exercised XP64 by installing a variety of 32-bit utilities and applications. We tried three personal firewalls and got three strikes: ZoneAlarm reported an "Incompatible OS," Kerio Personal Firewall announced that it "does not run on Windows Server systems," and Sygate Personal Firewall installed but wouldn't run....

Most antivirus products are likewise incompatible with XP64....

and from here (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1789173,00.asp), the last paragraph:

So even though chances are good that your next computer will have a 64-bit processor, there's really no need to buy XP64, given the lack of applications and the potential security issues and incompatibilities. But if you're an enthusiast, tinkerer, or IT pro trying to stay ahead of the curve, you'll find XP64 incredibly similar to 32-bit XP, though you will have to make some adjustments. Most of your existing programs will work fine, but you'll need to get antivirus and firewall software that's compatible with XP64. The rest of us will benefit by waiting for the applications to catch up.

[saphalline]

I agree, WinXP 64 isn't ready for prime-time. It has a lot of potential, but I've seen in action (or lack thereof) and I have to say it runs like a beta. If you can actually find working 64-bit drivers for all your hardware (doubtful) then you have a good chance of running just the OS without any problems! :p That's about all the good I can say about it right now.

[pcguideuser745]

Lacking 64-bit programs to test, we exercised XP64 by installing a variety of 32-bit utilities and applications. We tried three personal firewalls and got three strikes: ZoneAlarm reported an "Incompatible OS," Kerio Personal Firewall announced that it "does not run on Windows Server systems," and Sygate Personal Firewall installed but wouldn't run....

Most antivirus products are likewise incompatible with XP64....

In response to this quote, I would like to point out that Tiny has a 64-bit Beta firewall which has been available for download for some time now, which can be downloaded at the Tiny website (http://www.tinysoftware.com)

Also, it may not be a bad idea to check antivirus solutions from Avast, if you are going the 64-bit route, as they have recently announced all their antivirus solutions to be fully compatible with Windows x64.

We are glad to announce that all avast! antivirus editions, including the free Home Edition, now fully support the new Windows x64 platform (avast! Server Edition supports both x64 and IA64 (Intel Itanium) platforms).
The above quote taken from http://avast.com/eng/x64.html

[jcnoernberg]

well that all makes sense, maybe that's why it's so cheap? Well, would there be any benefit running XP on an AMD64? If not, what's the point in buying technology now that will be obsolete when you really get to use it?

[saphalline]

You don't buy an A64 just because it's a 64-bit capable CPU, you buy an A64 because it's the best CPU that AMD has out. It performs better than the P4 in games for a reason! It's a darn good CPU. The fact that it's 64-bit capable is pretty moot right now, but that's not to say it will be obsolete by the time a stable 64-bit version of Windows is released. The slowest A64 is 1.8GHz. Do you really think that's not enough to run a 64-bit version of Windows!? WinXP may be power-hungry, but even a 1GHz CPU tears right through it! Once WinXP x64 becomes stable, it will run very nicely on an A64 (or a P4 w/EM64T for that matter).

On a related note, has everyone heard the latest about Longhorn? M$ has now cut full .NET 2.0 integration from it, leaving only parts of it with .NET 2.0 framework. Since they've already cut out so many other things, who's going to want Longhorn at all, much less in a couple years? I don't know what they're thinking...

[jlreich]

There is one thing I have heard nice about Longhorn. They say you won't have to reinstall if you swap mobo's. Now that would very nice indeed. :cool: Hardware changes will be detected and dealt with at boot. Leaving a stable OS. :cool:

But that's just one pro to the many cons. :rolleyes: