Want to Finally Try XP 64 - Some Questions

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Okay, I want to finally give XP 64 a go, but I do not want it as my primary OS for what I feel should be obvious reasons, but just to explain in detail basically because it is still so damn new.

I have never set up my comp to "dual boot," so almost all of my questions are related to that.

Step # 1

Anyway, I have a massive amount of drive space on my comp (240 GB to be exact), split up into 4 partitions.

I plan on taking my D partition, which is currently 70 GB, that I use just for my Downloads (all drivers, installers, game patches, etc. 20 gigs worth of stuff, I am a packrat) and backing it up to an external USB drive (which I am actually already doing as I type this, 36 minutes to go).

Once that drive is backed up, I want to split it into 2 partitions. I will Format it, then I figure I will make one partition about 10 GB, and the other whatever the remaining size is. The partition I make 10 GB is going to be the one I install XP 64 on, and the other partition I will recopy my files back over, among other things.

Question # 1 - Is the above Step 1 the right way to do what I want to do?

Step #2

I will then install XP 64 on the new Partition I created from the above steps. Should be cut and dry.

Step/Question 3

Now the main reason I want to install XP 64 is to just poke around with it, and for me that mainly means I would like to try some gaming on it as well. Speicifically CS Source.

Currently, all of my games have their own partition, the G drive (yes G is for games, I know it is clever) and I am wondering... DO I have to reinstall any games I already have installed in order for XP 64 to be able to play them?

I know that even though I choose to install all of my games to the G Drive, that by default some random stuff automatically gets installed in the system folder, which XP2 is currently on the normal C drive, so I am thinking this is where some conflicts may or may not come into play?

Question #4

Is it even worth it to try it out yet?

Question # 5

Since I have never installed two different OS's, I am assuming, mainly from what I have read, that when my comp starts up, it is going to ask me which OS I would like to boot from correct?

TIA for any help, and for your patience.

Obviously I am a nub when it comes to this aspect of things, and I just want to make sure I do everything right before I try it out. If I cannot game on XP 64, then honestly I am not even sure if I am going to bother trying it out.

Also, any other tips and/or advice I might need is more than welcome (I am currently surfing the net finding any and all 64 bit drivers I can for my components)

Edited April 19, 2005 by DirtyLarry

[f0rbez]

I'm not too familiar with multi-booting so I'll let someone else answer that. But I just wanna let you know that you must have 64bit drivers for all of your hardware, otherwise they won't work.

If you can get the 64bit drivers, I say go for it.

[CrowaX]

Your theories on the dual booting sound fine. I install XP pro to one partition and XP home to another to show the slight changes to a class I teach. For the most part, anything installed on one Windows will need to be reinstalled on the other. There are a few games out there that you can just browse to the directory and run the program, but I dont suggest it. I cant answer if its worth trying out or not.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I'm not too familiar with multi-booting so I'll let someone else answer that. But I just wanna let you know that you must have 64bit drivers for all of your hardware, otherwise they won't work.

If you can get the 64bit drivers, I say go for it.

585794743[/snapback]

:D Thanks. What is funny is before I even saw your post I just edited the bottom of my post to say I am currently downloading all of the 64 Bit drivers I can. (Y)

[amrinders87]

Question # 5

Since I have never installed two different OS's, I am assuming, mainly from what I have read, that when my comp starts up, it is going to ask me which OS I would like to boot from correct?

Yep, Windows will automatically know that there are two Operating Systems installed. It will display a screen. Most likely, both will Say Windows XP. But you can make the settings once you boot into either one. Right Click On My Computer, Advanced tab, click on Settings in Startup and Recovery group box. There you will be able to make changes to the boot.ini file, which displays the list of Operating systems installed.

[amrinders87]

Btw, keep us posted on how it goes, finding drivers, and last but not least post your system specifications.

I am just curious to know what kind of drivers exist for 64 bit.

[Menge]

Step # 1

Anyway, I have a massive amount of drive space on my comp (240 GB to be exact), split up into 4 partitions.

I plan on taking my D partition, which is currently 70 GB, that I use just for my Downloads (all drivers, installers, game patches, etc. 20 gigs worth of stuff, I am a packrat) and backing it up to an external USB drive (which I am actually already doing as I type this, 36 minutes to go).

Once that drive is backed up, I want to split it into 2 partitions. I will Format it, then I figure I will make one partition about 10 GB, and the other whatever the remaining size is. The partition I make 10 GB is going to be the one I install XP 64 on, and the other partition I will recopy my files back over, among other things.

Question # 1 - Is the above Step 1 the right way to do what I want to do?

585794734[/snapback]

Seems like the right way to go. you should have no problems with dual booting, since windows xp is compatible with itself :p

Step #2

I will then install XP 64 on the new Partition I created from the above steps. Should be cut and dry.

585794734[/snapback]

yeh :)

Step/Question 3

Now the main reason I want to install XP 64 is to just poke around with it, and for me that mainly means I would like to try some gaming on it as well. Speicifically CS Source.

Currently, all of my games have their own partition, the G drive (yes G is for games, I know it is clever) and I am wondering... DO I have to reinstall any games I already have installed in order for XP 64 to be able to play them?

I know that even though I choose to install all of my games to the G Drive, that by default some random stuff automatically gets installed in the system folder, which XP2 is currently on the normal C drive, so I am thinking this is where some conflicts may or may not come into play?

585794734[/snapback]

Many games are able to be run without the need for reinstallation (id software-based ones, for instance). but many (CS Source included) will need a reinstall. I'd suggest that you installed to a different place than the previous one, since usually, many games have updates (specially Valve ones...) that might cause the "state" of both installs to be different, thus causing one of the installs to break.

Question #4

Is it even worth it to try it out yet?

585794734[/snapback]

I dont know. not using x64. but, if i had a x64 machine, i'd be dying to try it out :)

go for it :p

Question # 5

Since I have never installed two different OS's, I am assuming, mainly from what I have read, that when my comp starts up, it is going to ask me which OS I would like to boot from correct?

585794734[/snapback]

once installed, yeh

good luck! tell us how it went :D

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Btw, keep us posted on how it goes, finding drivers, and last but not least post your system specifications.

I am just curious to know what kind of drivers exist for 64 bit.

585794766[/snapback]

Well, my finding drivers search is already done.

The only drivers I was able to find where for my Nvidia Card, my nForce 3 chipset Unified System Drivers, and for my Realtek Ethernet Adapter.

No drivers from Logitech, and Creative, that is just yet. I am hoping to maybe find some "beta" drivers out there. Since I have a love/hate relationship with my Audigy 2, I may uninstall it and just use my onboard sound so the creative driver may not be that big of a deal

My specs are:

AMD 64 3500+ (Winchester Core) Socket 939

MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum n-force 3 chipset

1 GB Corsair 3200 DDR

BFG 6800 Ultra OC 256

Audigy 2

120 GB SATA HD

160 GB ATA HD

NEC 8x DVD Burner

Lite On 52x CD Burner

Coolermaster Aluminum Wave Master w/ Side Panel

550 W Antec Tru Power PSU

My specs were taken from the thread started by Neobond in this section...

Seems like the right way to go. you should have no problems with dual booting, since windows xp is compatible with itself :p

yeh :)

Many games are able to be run without the need for reinstallation (id software-based ones, for instance). but many (CS Source included) will need a reinstall. I'd suggest that you installed to a different place than the previous one, since usually, many games have updates (specially Valve ones...) that might cause the "state" of both installs to be different, thus causing one of the installs to break.

I dont know. not using x64. but, if i had a x64 machine, i'd be dying to try it out :)

go for it :p

once installed, yeh

good luck! tell us how it went :D

585794776[/snapback]

Awesome Response. Thank You Very Much (Y) I will definitely post back with my results, as I am pretty much ready as everything is backed up. I may just hold off until I get home from workj tomorrow as it is already a little late and I am know with something like this, just playing around I could be up all night.

[Rekoil]

dude its soo simple. just install winxp x64 on a second harddisk/partition

[Circaflex]

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=1961&p=4

[Jediweasel]

I tried it on my 3000+ 939 socket system and had a hard time with drivers. Then almost all my applications acted all stupid and I finally said the heck with it and reload SUSE 64-bit back on it and been happy since. Microsoft is getting the idea, but it's not quite there yet.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Well, as you can see by the screenshot, I finally got around tonight to installing xp64! :D :punk: :punk:

So far so good, although I am in the first stages of everything, all of the drivers I did find* installed without a hitch, and no noticeable problems with anything at all.

My boot up time is unbelievably fast. I know there is nothing on the system yet really, but it is still dramatically faster than a fresh install of normal 32 bit based XP.

* I was very happy to find the Creative 64 Beta Drivers, and they worked like a charm. I love the Creative Audio HG Control Panel interface so, so much more for xp64 than I do for normal XP 2. It is super streamlined and not bloated like the normal one is. The sound was excellent.

I also ran Doom 3 from my already established Game Drive, and although I saw Circaflex's link to anandtech reporting a dramatic decrease in games, Doom 3 ran absolutely FLAWLESS, just as good as it always does, and I think unless it was my imagination, actually slightly better. I am going to run the Doom 3 timedemo one of these days soon to see exactly what the performance is under xp64, but I can say just from using the com_showfps console command, I definitely am not losing any frames per second at all.

Just trying xp64 is going to be a very slow, slow process, but as I said, all is good so far, and I will probably one to teo days a week boot into xp64 to see how certain things perform over time.

And if anyone is thinking of trying this out, I found this link on AMD's site that is beyond helpful for x64 drivers: AMD64 Device Driver Support for Windows? and Linux

Thanks to all who responded.

DL

[Samoa]

my friend, x64 isn't ready for main OS usage yet. Dual boot it with SP2 or linux...or Jaguar (###### kat?) something like that....

[Sensayshun]

1.) Nice rig

2.) Have you run 3D Mark 05 in it yet? I know you've got an ultimate graphics card but I was wondering if there'd be a difference?

3.) It's all your fault, you've made me want to buy an A64 system again, when I know full well I can't afford one.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

my friend, x64 isn't ready for main OS usage yet. Dual boot it with SP2 or linux...or Jaguar (###### kat?) something like that....

585801093[/snapback]

(Y)

Definitely dual booting my man. I am just doing this for fun right now. :D Definitely not for main OS usage... And how I wish I could dual boot between XP and Tiger ;)

1.) Nice rig

2.) Have you run 3D Mark 05 in it yet? I know you've got an ultimate graphics card but I was wondering if there'd be a difference?

3.) It's all your fault, you've made me want to buy an A64 system again, when I know full well I can't afford one.

585801345[/snapback]

1) Thank you. (Y)

2) No benchmarks just yet, but coming soon to a post near you. :)

3) Sorry I have put evil thoughts into your head. ;)

[pyepye]

Well, my finding drivers search is already done.

The only drivers I was able to find where for my Nvidia Card, my nForce 3 chipset Unified System Drivers, and for my Realtek Ethernet Adapter.

No drivers from Logitech, and Creative, that is just yet. I am hoping to maybe find some "beta" drivers out there. Since I have a love/hate relationship with my Audigy 2, I may uninstall it and just use my onboard sound so the creative driver may not be that big of a deal

585794811[/snapback]

I have also just installed it last night... Same issue with drivers, I can only find drivers for my nForce4 mobo, ATI card, and wireless card by RALINK (which had x64 drivers for quite awhile)... No drivers for my Samsung printer, creative webcam... and one that totally boggles my mind... MICROSOFT WIRELESS MOUSE AND KEYBOARD! You'd think they'd support their own products. :no:

On a happy note, Logitech has beta drivers out for my gamepad... :cool:

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I have also just installed it last night... Same issue with drivers, I can only find drivers for my nForce4 mobo, ATI card, and wireless card by RALINK (which had x64 drivers for quite awhile)... No drivers for my Samsung printer, creative webcam... and one that totally boggles my mind... MICROSOFT WIRELESS MOUSE AND KEYBOARD!  You'd think they'd support their own products.  :no:

On a happy note, Logitech has beta drivers out for my gamepad...  :cool:

585802522[/snapback]

:rofl: That is completely ironic and funny as hell that MS does not have drivers for their own mouse and keyboard, but I guess they figured the default ones would do for now.

And speaking of Logitech, I saw they had the gamepad drivers, downloaded them myself as well, but they have nothing for any keyboard or mice that they make? WTF is that? :laugh:

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=1961&p=4

585800351[/snapback]

wow gaming bench is so bad 32bit vs 64bit!!

[sdornan]

And an article from February 2004 is so relevant now... *rolls eyes*

[arrrgh]

It is relevent in one aspect, if you are a gamer going for Win64 doesn't make any sense. At least for now.