Microsoft Windows XP x64 RTM
Posted by lardiop on 31 March 2005 - 15:17 · 20 comments & 3188 views
Microsoft has just announced that Windows XP Professional x64 has been RTM. MSDN subscribers can download ISO files of the RTM build immediately, while the rest of us will have to wait till x64 becomes commercially available in late April. Microsoft still plans to offer a special program which will allow legitimately purchased copies of 32-bit XP Professional to be traded in for copies of the new 64-bit variant.

It will be interesting to see what final software and hardware support is like in x64. Paul Thurrott extensively reviewed x64 RC2 in late February, stressing that 32-bit software support was less than stellar. ”Software compatibility in XP x64, currently, is a disaster. Don't get me wrong: Most 32-bit applications do indeed install and run on XP x64 just fine. But I suspect that most people who try out this system over the next several months will be irritated to find that one of more crucial applications will not install at all, and that alone will give many a bad experience. Most of them, I suspect, will run right back to XP 32-bit.” Stay with Neowin as we look into software compatibility and performance issues with XP x64 RTM.

XP x64 is expected to yield a performance increase of around 35% to native x64 applications. (Generic 32-bit applications should see no performance change.) Microsoft will be launching XP x64 at this years WinHEC conference in Seattle (April 25-27) where it also plans to debut a new developer preview build of Windows Longhorn.

View: Windows XP x64 (RC2) Preview
View: Microsoft MSDN

"Readily available digital video content remains a key driver for the portable multimedia player market," said Josh Martin, associate research analyst at IDC. "The proliferation and growth of video service providers will serve to fill the existing video content void and increase adoption of portable multimedia players such as Windows Mobile-based devices." A one-year premium membership to the MSN Video Downloads service with access to all available videos is $19.95 (U.S.). In addition, people can access a limited amount of free content without a paid membership


There are 20 additional comments
Advertisement
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by Citizen Erased on 31 Mar 2005 - 15:25
Downloading from MSDN now, will report back with any problems and such
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by Nissel on 31 Mar 2005 - 15:28
boo hoo where is it on msdn.. i cant see it. i see RC1 and RC2 but no RTM.
(5 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by sphbecker on 31 Mar 2005 - 15:40
From what I have read, you are really better off staying with the 32-bit version unless you need more then about 3GB of memory (32-bit does support up to 4GB, but you start to loose some of the benefits when you go above 3). Some applications may run slightly faster with the new 64-bit instructions, but I would hold off and wait to see benchmarks before upgrading. Most apps don't do a lot of 64-bit math.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if most OEMs make the 32-bit OS the default even if the hardware has full 64-bit support.
Quote this comment #3.1 Posted by IGx89 on 31 Mar 2005 - 15:45
I got noticeable performance gains in some games, and a huge performance gain in Sciencemark2 Molecular Dynamics (look here)

Sure, many apps won't have much of a performance improvement, but there are a bunch that do have performance improvements, mainly floating-point intensive programs (like scientific/3D programs).
Quote this comment #3.2 Posted by bucko on 31 Mar 2005 - 16:02
Don't knock it till you tried it.
Quote this comment #3.3 Posted by _dandy_ on 31 Mar 2005 - 17:30
> I got noticeable performance gains in some games

Tsk. Define how you measure those gains. Same machine, before vs after?
Quote this comment #3.4 Posted by IGx89 on 31 Mar 2005 - 18:55
Same machine. One spot in AA went from ~62fps to ~72fps, another spot from ~45fps to ~50fps, and another from ~60fps to ~120fps (no vsync, 85hz refresh rate, UltraHigh details, 1280x1024). Doom 3 went from ~43fps to 50fps (demo1, High @ 1280x1024 w/ 2xAA). Sciencemark 2 Molecular Dynamics went from 94 seconds to 32 seconds. nVidia's BlobbyDancer went from ~28fps (32bit version, same fps in both OS's) to ~41fps (64bit version). Riddick stayed mostly the same framerate, but the framerate was the same no matter which resolution so I think it was bugged.

Two things are keeping me from converting completely to Pro x64: Happauge has yet to release x64 drivers for my PVR-250, and neither of the two packet sniffers that XBConnect uses has a x64 driver yet.
Quote this comment #3.5 Posted by Cathail on 11 Apr 2005 - 14:13
Perforamance improvements will be seen in more areas than just integer math. Block memory copies, among other things, will see a significant performance improvement.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by DrunkenMaster on 31 Mar 2005 - 15:45
Anyone know anything about upgrading the student edition?

I just called MS sales, to be fair its just been RTM'd, and they weren't sure if there is an upgrade path and how much it would be.

Also, are the SB LIVE/Audigy drivers close to final yet. I tried the drivers on my SB LIVE with Beta 2 and I didn't get *any* sound.
Quote this comment #4.1 Posted by UKer on 31 Mar 2005 - 19:19
I just did what is described at http://preview.creativelabs.com/Lists/Issues/DispForm.aspx?ID=114 - got sound working fine on my audigy 2.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by bucko on 31 Mar 2005 - 16:01
You will be able to get it for free if your Computer Provider (e.g. Dell/Fujitsu Siemens) agree to trading your XP32 key for an XP64 one. XP64 will most likely be downloading only and only shipped with 64Bit enabled CPU's/PC's.

This is to stop the general public thinking omg I got x64 (they think it's better) then they put it in there x32 pc and go bum it don't work and insult Microsoft for no backwards compatibility. Of course you can run 32 bit apps on x64 but that’s another issue.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by lexor on 31 Mar 2005 - 16:59
anyone has any news on when better/newer ATI catalysts will be out? for 64bit that is? their last beta is quite old. (and not performing that well fps wise, as they say themselves)
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by bucko on 31 Mar 2005 - 17:58
Everyone should start emailing driver devs and buging them for better x64 drivers, no excuse now. Even ati, my laptop is ati they better make good drivers.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by Lock on 31 Mar 2005 - 18:12
looks like after 18 months of testing - the actual beta testers dont get it !
only those who pay for MSDN subscription.
Quote this comment #8.1 Posted by neufuse on 31 Mar 2005 - 18:20
you'll get a cd in the mail in a couple weeks like how their normal windows beta test procedure goes..
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by IGx89 on 31 Mar 2005 - 18:59
Does anyone know if the 360-day trial key for the RC2 will work with the RTM?
Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by trance on 31 Mar 2005 - 19:10
No
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by GOHARD on 31 Mar 2005 - 20:40
what is the RTM Build Number??
Quote this comment #10.1 Posted by lothodon on 31 Mar 2005 - 21:52
build 1830
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by hardgiant on 06 Apr 2005 - 04:14
It's 64 times faster.
[1]

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.


Scroll to the Top
....
My Preferences
....
Communicating with server
Loading
Please Wait...
....
Loading
 X 
....