x64, Explained.

[SkinAddict]

Is "Insert Program Name Here" slower in an x64 or 32bit OS?

Windows XP x64 uses a compatability layer called WOW64, to emulate a 32bit Operating System. Emulate may paint a picture of VMWare, but it's no slower than running the program in it's native operating system. It will run at normal speeds in x64. Now to reverse that question, a 64bit program, written or compiled for x64, will run or can run considerably faster in Windows x64.

To add to that, many 32bit apps such as Adobe PS CS will run much faster in WinXP x64 because the OS has the capability to address a much larger segment of virtual memory (comes into play with things like rendering and games)

my card reader, vid card, sound, and a few other things of mine arnt found lol

Go to Start > Control Panel > System, Click HardWare, then Device Manager.

Right click anything not installed and hit update driver, when it asks, tell it to search microsoft Update, that will find many that aren't installed by default... and if that doesn't work just try the device manufacturers website :)

[+dave164 Subscriber¹]

Ooo ooo *puts hand up in air* there is no wlan drives :o :p

[haveblue128]

I am one of those who has seen the light (speed) and am going full force with x64. I recommend you do the same. While AMD had owned the market for quite a while, I urge you to look at the new Intel D 820-830-840. Dual chips and blistering speed. Even I am a believer now and hope the advent of this hardward into the marketplace gets others into the x64 race.

WOW! :cool: :cool:

[mikeboy]

this is a great post, I learned a lot from it!

[wize_guy123]

I tried Windows 64bit.. but I couldnt stand some errors I was getting. I tried to uninstall a program that wasnt working.. and it wouldnt uninstall, and then after that, my boot time took about 3 minutes, then after that.. I just couldnt take it.. and went back. Maybe it was just the version I had.

[Nightwind Hawk]

I'm building a new computer this weekend that will be x64... can anybody confirm the problems about the post above me?

[Brandon Live Veteran]

No idea what caused his problems.

My x64 experiences have been great, except for a few apps or drivers here and there. The app compatibility is really improving all the time. Sadly the product I work on (which I also can't live without) doesn't work on x64 XP/2003 quite yet =/

[sevastopol]

anyone knows a good x64 defragmenter (my pc definitely needs one)

[Metal Blood]

Thanx for all the info, i think the upgrade to 64 bit is great for now and even better in the future!

[0sit0]

i wish they had media center x64 ... i have to stick with 32 bit for now until they release vista

anyone knows a good x64 defragmenter (my pc definitely needs one)

i think diskeeper has a 64 bit edition

[oldaccount1]

Right on. Good explanation.

[illicit]

Right on. Good explanation.

Indeed. It was very informative. (Y)

[Barney T. Administrators]

Excellent.... you forgot to mention that there are many 64-bit Linux distros that are truly 64-bit. SuSE is one that will run 64-bit as well as 32-bit applications.

One downside is that there are some apps that have not been created for 64-bit computers at all (flash player is one of them) for both Windows and Linux. So there needs to be some more work and acceptance by program and driver manufacturers before you'll get the full experience. I think the release of Vista will kick 64-bit app development into high gear... :yes:

Barney

[wutang01]

Hey, I have a question. How do you tell if the CPU is 64-bit (apart from the obvious names like Athlon 64)?

I'm looking forward to the Intel Core 2 Quadro ... and want to make sure its 64-bit.

Are all dual-core and quad-cores 64-bit?

[Hurmoth]

Hey, I have a question. How do you tell if the CPU is 64-bit (apart from the obvious names like Athlon 64)?

I'm looking forward to the Intel Core 2 Quadro ... and want to make sure its 64-bit.

Are all dual-core and quad-cores 64-bit?

The current Core 2 Duo chips are 64-bit, but no not all dual-core processors are. The previous Core Duo chips were not 64-bit. Depending on where you buy the processor from, most places will tell you if it is 64-bit.

For example, the Intel Core Duo T2300 at NewEgg: 64 bit Support -- No : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819111180

But the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 at NewEgg: 64 bit Support -- Yes : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115005

Also you can look in Technical Detail of the processor, it should list the Multimedia Instruction. For AMD processors it will have x86-64 and for Intel it will have EM64T.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Hurmoth

[wutang01]

The current Core 2 Duo chips are 64-bit, but no not all dual-core processors are. The previous Core Duo chips were not 64-bit. Depending on where you buy the processor from, most places will tell you if it is 64-bit.

For example, the Intel Core Duo T2300 at NewEgg: 64 bit Support -- No : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819111180

But the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 at NewEgg: 64 bit Support -- Yes : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115005

Ahh ... thank you. That answers my question.

Cheers Hurmoth.

[Blazedaemon]

I desperately need help. I installed a Linksys ethernet adapter and am unable to load the drivers. I am running win xp 64 with an Athalon 64 bit cpu. I have tried a couple of different cards and am unable to load the drivers.

I would appreciate and help or ideas.

[Gangsta]

Question:

What is the likelihood that I'll actually have to use one of those 16-bit installers?

Crap, forgot to look at the date... A year old! Sorry for necroposting.

[Arkanius]

Hello. I was recently thinking in upgrading my Vista 32-bit to Vista 64-bit (Im using a Q6660 Quad Core processor) and I would like to know if the advantages are clear and it's worth. (I'm mostly a gamer, most of the aplications I use for work are in Linux such as LaTeX, Blender, Gnuplot). I only have 2 GB of memory, people tell me its not worth to upgrade unless I have 4 GB.

So what are your opinions? Will there be significant performance upgrades under applications while in 64-bit using 64-bit apps? I must know since to upgrade I need to do a complete format and It's seriously a pain in the ass.

[Gangsta]

Using 64-bit apps, there may be a little performance gain. I'm running vx64, and I haven't noticed much (then again, I've only got 2 GeeBees of RAM). I think you shouldn't worry about it unless most of your apps (I'm not familiar with those, though I have heard of Blender) are 64-bit.

[carmatic]

right, i dunnoe if this is too technical or not but here goes...im not an expert on these things or anything... ive been reading the wikipedia article on 64-bit , and from that my impression is that 64-bit actually can either refer to the registers, the memory address, or the bus width... so a 'true' 64bit machine would have all of them to be in at least 64 bit?

[mjoshua]

very useful post and the reply

thanks

[nMIK-3]

Nice explanation :rofl:

[Joel]

Reopened

[SinghKing]

I've got a question about 4GB RAM and x64.

Well,with 32bit and 4GB RAM, it only sees 3.25GB(round it to 3GB). Application that are used only use half of the available RAM, so that would be 1.5GB.

2.6GB is available on the task manager but the extra 1GB isn't used.

If 64bit was installed, how much RAM would be available for that one application?

If system uses 1GB ram, then would 3GB be used for the application or would it be the same?