Why 64 bit system

[mhill52]

Trying to buy a pc that is future proof for about 5 years when we seem to be in a 32 - 64 bit transition stage at the moment.
is there any point buying say an AMD 64 system when its only got windows XP home as its operating system.
I know windows have a new operating system on the way.
Will future 64 bit games play with this operating system.
Can anyone help to clear my confusion. thanks in advance

[beerbelly]

I'll leave the answer to your question to someone more knowledgealble than me, but I can tell you that the 64 bit windows is here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/default.mspx

[hockey man]

64 bit Windows-Vista- is required to play 64 bit games. XP should run fine on a 64 bit CPU though. I'm not sure then Vista will be released though.

[saphalline]

we seem to be in a 32 - 64 bit transition stage at the moment.As far as the hardware is concerned, we're already there. The latest update to my sticky (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39018) (which should be posted by tonight) no longer has any 32-bit-only CPU's. They're all 64-bit capable now. Intel and AMD have the best deals on 64-bit capable CPU's right now, so the software is the only thing that's lagging.

Yes, WinXP will run fine on a 64-bit capable CPU/system. With SP2 and all the updates - smooth as silk... Vista will be released twice, actually, a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version. At least, that's the plan so far. Although if either of them gets the axe, it will be the 32-bit version. Vista is planned for a 2006 release date, but probably later than sooner. Otherwise, 2006 won't just be the year of 64-bit software, but rather dual-core CPU hardware. Intel is hitting back hard in early 2006 with their Conroe and other new microarchitecture CPU's.

So if you're looking for a good 5-year plan, I'd recommend you include a dual-core 64-bit CPU and the 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

[mhill52]

thanks for the advise it makes sense