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The Windows 64bit thread

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Sa3atsky

Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2004
Location
Bahrain
I think there should be a Windows 64bit thread here, post everything you know or heard about it? whens it coming? does it have past-compatibility with 32bit apps and games?
 
Here's a few links re: the new Windows XP 64-Bit OS you may find helpful...

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Home Page
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/default.mspx

Newsgroup Support for Windows for 64-Bit Extended Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/64bit/extended/trial/support.mspx

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-Bit Extended Systems Customer Preview Program
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/downloads/upgrade.asp

List of Limitations in 64-Bit Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282423&Product=winxp

Cannot Install Some Programs on Windows XP for 64-bit Platforms
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;298218&Product=winxp
 
Heres a link comparing Windows XP Pro with 64bit..
Here are the things I noticed:

"Using an emulation layer, you can run 32-bit applications on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition. However, such applications run significantly slower on the 64-bit system than on the 32-bit system, because emulation requires additional resources."
This is a big letdown to me - unless my favourite apps (Cubase 2, Adobe Photoshop) and great games like Farcry 64bit get 64bit flavors, I aint touching..

The following digital media features are not included with Windows XP 64-Bit Edition:
* Digital video disc (DVD) video playback
* CD Recording
* Windows Media™ Player

Does this mean it wont have Microsofts' crap features for running DVDs and cd Writing be available or these features wont be available at all?

The System Restore feature is not supported in Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
Huh? thats just crap! :eh?:

Windows 64bit Minimum RAM - 1 GB
Recommended RAM - N/A

What the hell?! Why that much? I'm guessing the recommended RAM is so much it isnt even mentioned! Is Windows 64 aimed at big enterprise servers or at home users?

..your thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Sa3atsky said:
"Using an emulation layer, you can run 32-bit applications on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition. However, such applications run significantly slower on the 64-bit system than on the 32-bit system, because emulation requires additional resources."


:-/ my p133(win98se) runs alot of dos games faster than my pIII800(XPpro) on dosbox...if the performance loss is comparable, then good bye windows...
 
Heres one more:
32-bit installer programs cannot load and register 64-bit DLLs.
Maaan even installers have to be altered, I dont think the software community (official and unofficial) arent gonna be accepting this 64bit "revolution" anytime soon...
 
Hmmmmmmmmmmm I'm not sure but I think Microsoft is focusing more on SP2 rather than Windows 64bit.. I could be wrong though..
I think we should list all the apps and games that are going to support 64bit in the future.
 
Sa3atsky said:
Heres one more:
32-bit installer programs cannot load and register 64-bit DLLs.
Maaan even installers have to be altered, I dont think the software community (official and unofficial) arent gonna be accepting this 64bit "revolution" anytime soon...

I think that the key is here:
"Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for technical workstations."

The overview states:
"Windows XP 64-Bit Edition supports the latest class of Intel Itanium processors designed for users who need to create and manipulate large amounts of complex data. The high performance of the Intel Itanium processor is targeted toward high-end workstation applications such as large database management, data mining, computer-aided engineering, digital content creation, and scientific and engineering computing"

While this paragraph primarily describes the application of Itanium processors, the OS is implied to the same description by extension.

I think we just need to wait for "Longhorn" to be released. You know that Microsoft will not exclude their very popular Media Player as well as the very user-friendly CD burning and DVD playback features that the average user has come to expect and use in today's computer/entertainment systems.

As far as 32-bit application performance in Longhorn, who knows? Once again, just wait and see.

Now if you want to fire up CAD/CAM and knock out some engineering diagrams, that's another story altogether...
 
:) Your post clears up a lotta misconceptions allright. Seems that the best 64bit choice right now (and for the near future) when it comes to OS's is Linux.
 
What about windows 2003 enterprise edition for 64bit? I'm looking at getting opterons for my main computer and I was wondering how this would go. U can turn the normal server 2003 into a workstation, I wonder about the 64bit version. Plus u can legaly download it 4 free and use it 4 a whole year!!
 
^^ yeah for about $800 for the O/S :)

what was thw dinwos 64 they had done for the AMD 64 bits? is there a second version of the Windows 64 ?
 
I might be wrong but isn't Windows XP 64-bit Edition and Windows XP 64-bit Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems two different animals? One for the Itaniums and the other for Opterons and Athlon 64?
 
EvilerNine said:
I might be wrong but isn't Windows XP 64-bit Edition and Windows XP 64-bit Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems two different animals? One for the Itaniums and the other for Opterons and Athlon 64?
You are correct. There is a version for itaniums which do not support 32 bit operations at all and there is a version for athlon64/opteron that DOES support 32 bit operations. The 64 bit version of windows for the athlon 64s/opterons should have the same requirements as current Windows XP.
 
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