02-12-2004, 06:58 PM
Microsoft has two 64-bit OS versions currently. One for Itanium, which has been out for quite awhile. But nobody cares about Itanium. The one you linked to is a preview version of 64-bit XP for x86-64 technology.
Now, I wouldn't jump all over this OS yet. It's preview for a few reasons, the main one being that current driver support sucks. According to a recent Anandtech article, running a WinXP 64-bit over WinXP gives you around a 20% decrease in gaming performance. All other types of programs they run are either slightly worse or better. That's running on the same exact system, an Athlon64 chip. Note that those are all 32-bit applications, so many of them are benefitting from 64-bit without even being recompiled.
So currently the best configuration you could go for is an Athlon64 chip running 32-bit Windows. However, once XP 64-bit's drivers take off, it will most likely be faster than it's 32-bit brother, even running 32-bit applications. Once more companies like Epic start recompiling to make 64-bit code, the gap will widen even further.
Now, I wouldn't jump all over this OS yet. It's preview for a few reasons, the main one being that current driver support sucks. According to a recent Anandtech article, running a WinXP 64-bit over WinXP gives you around a 20% decrease in gaming performance. All other types of programs they run are either slightly worse or better. That's running on the same exact system, an Athlon64 chip. Note that those are all 32-bit applications, so many of them are benefitting from 64-bit without even being recompiled.
So currently the best configuration you could go for is an Athlon64 chip running 32-bit Windows. However, once XP 64-bit's drivers take off, it will most likely be faster than it's 32-bit brother, even running 32-bit applications. Once more companies like Epic start recompiling to make 64-bit code, the gap will widen even further.
Trade yourself in for the perfect one. No one needs to know that you feel you've been ruined!