Has Windows XP 64's performance improved?

[JediJorgie]

It's time to reformat and I have two options: Windows XP or XP 64. (I would like to put Vista on, but Creative does not make a Vista driver for my sound card, so it will have to wait until I buy a new sound card or rebuild).

I've done some googling on 32 bit XP versus 64 bit XP performance and the articles all concluded that XP 64 is not worth it. But all the articles were old; 3 years at least. I'm wondering if things have changed since then. Would I notice an improvement in performance with XP 64? I've already found 64 bit drivers for my video card and sound card.

I mostly use my computer for internet, email, listening to music, and occasional gaming. And of the apps I use, I don't think any of them have 64 bit versions (Winamp, LotRO). So I'm guessing it would be a waste of my time, but thought I'd ask.

 

[The Keeper]

Not worth it on your current rig. It would be a different story if you had 4GB or more RAM. That said x64 software on x64 operating system can potentially be faster, but this is usually limited to number-crunching software such as encoding, compression, rendering, etc.

I used x64 XP up to a year and didn't really have any problems with it. It ran stable but there wasn't much of a performance difference to 32-bit XP. I'd say drivers were just as good as 32-bit were if not better.

 

[PingSpike]

32-bit apps should run fine on x64...if they didn't...oh boy!

Any recent things I can find seem to indicate its mostly pretty painless these days...I'm trying to switch over myself. If I didn't have 4GB of ram though...I wouldn't even bother.

 

[clarkey01]

Meh XP 64 hasnt got a lot of support...Avoid

 

[JediJorgie]

Thanks for reassuring me. After glancing at Newegg today, I saw how ridiculously cheap parts were compared to when I built my current rig. So I'm going to wait until I've got some extra money and just build a new system with Vista 64.

 

[tboo]

XP 64 runs great on my system. Its a hell of a lot faster than Vista 64 plus I can now play older games.

 

[PingSpike]

I'm not sure about the support thing. On one hand, it has a pretty limited marketshare and isn't really sold anymore? So its pretty valid that to think that.

On the other hand, its based the server 2003 x64 kernel right? I don't think support for that is going to disappear any time soon.

It seems like if you can get the drivers going (and nvidia and ATi seem to release regular tandem x64 drivers from my limited experience) there isn't a whole lot of issue.

 

[Net]

my friend said some of his pc games run slower in xp 64. i have no evidence or documentation. you might want to do a google search.