Buying a Intel 2CD chip - can i still run windows XP?

I'm going to be buying an Intel Dual core chip (probably the E6600) can i still run Windows XP professional - as it doesnt support 64bit or dual core processors.

Will there be much of a performnace hit for the CPU....should i get Vista or WinXP 64?

thanks

windows 32bit will work with a c2d you just wont be able to run programs that utilise both cores.

I run windows xp pro 64 and its works very well and is stable.....unlike some other MS OSs lol.

I wouldnt advise vista yet...maybe wait til service pack comes out...but i have no experience with it.

windows 32bit will work with a c2d you just wont be able to run programs that utilise both cores.

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False. Windows does support native dualcores (at least with SP2 - don't think many have experiance with dualcores under SP1 or even SP-less ).
In addition, Win x64 is simpily an OS that takes advantage of the 64bit instruction set - after all, all consumer chips have 64bit support on top of 32bit, not replacing 32bit (like the more or less failed Itantium). See x86-64 on wiki.

There appears to be some confusion here. Windows XP Home supports one physical processor, but can use the multiple cores up to any number. Pro can support up to 8 physical processors and use lots of cores.

DanFraser said:

There appears to be some confusion here. Windows XP Home supports one physical processor, but can use the multiple cores up to any number. Pro can support up to 8 physical processors and use lots of cores.

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You've added to the confusion. XP Pro (whether it be x86 or x64) supports only two physical processors with any number of cores. The COA states this plainly :]