Windows 64 bit edition? Good for gaming?

[TriggerHappy101]

Will I see any amount of performance gain using windows 64 bit edition VS XP pro? I am running a AMD Athlon 3700+ with 2 gigs of ram and a 7800GT.

Pllllllllllllease tell me I can get it from school today for free because I am a CNS student and microsft gives out their stuff for free to us. I am building my computer when i get home, soooooooooo 64 bit edition or NOT?


Thanks.

 

[jondercik]

no but I like Win X64 more than x32.

 

[MrChad]

XP64 Bit
The nightmare that is Windows XP 64
Will games run better on X64?
Xp 64 or Xp 32bit?

There are a number of threads on this topic. The general consensus is that there is spotty driver support in XP-64 and you will see little to no benefit over the 32-bit version.

 

[ProviaFan]

I have run XP64, but one piece of hardware that is critical for me (Gretag Macbeth Eye One Display2) is not yet supported. If you don't have obscure color management systems, TV tuners, or other miscellaneous things, XP64 will probably work fine for you - just do your research before installing it to ensure that you can find drivers for everything.

In my humble opinion, though, XP64 is not worthwhile unless you have more than 3GB (yes, three gigabytes) of RAM. Why? Because PCI, AGP, and/or PCI-E hardware devices have to be mapped into memory somewhere, and in the 32 bit setups that I have seen (which is certainly not anywhere near all of them), somewhere around 1GB gets "eaten" by said hardware, leaving Windows with only 3GB that it can see. This refers to total memory that the system can use, not the 2GB per process limit that is otherwise imposed (the latter can be raised to 3GB per process with a special boot.ini command, but I don't see much point when the system only sees 3GB anyway).

 

[videopho]

Stay away from it (x64) if you do gaming. I'm considering going to XP Pro sometime soon (when I can get a school version for $5 OEM)

 

[imported_synchro]

I have x64 installed on my game system and have had no issues.
I would say it's as fast as the x32 version, and you'll need a benchmark utility to tell you otherwise.

Printer drivers were the only issue I had.

If you have a 64 bit chip why not use it?

If you're running the x32 version of XP now I don't think it's worth upgrading to, but if you're buying a new OS for a new build I would (and did) go with the x64 edition.

 

[videopho]

Wow..this is some accomplishment for me personally . After having been frustrated with so many crashes and freezes when trying to play HL2:LC on a x64 window OS in the past couple of weeks.
Well, last night, I finally was able to complete the game without a hitch for the first time. Granted the game was short but this game was played with max settings @ 4xaa/8xaf , full HDR, and @1680x1050 res. with frame rate average 50-70fps on a eVGA 7800GTX (with 81.98 signed x64 bit version), the previous 81.94 (64 bit unsigned) I used might have been one of the many culprits?

 

[TriggerHappy101]

I see... Well maybe as soon as vista comes out x64 will be more benificial.

I guess I am sticking with Xp pro.

 

[spyordie007]

The deficiency isnt XP; it's driver and software support.

If there were 64bit drivers available for your hardware and the game was 64bit than XP 64 would (of course) be the way to go.

 

[xtknight]

XP64 is great for gaming. Battlefield 2 even ran smoother in my experience with 1 GB of RAM (put me in a placebo test any day...it was very obvious). But with 2 GB of RAM, there was no difference. Both ATI and NVIDIA have drivers for 64-bit, and Creative has 64-bit Sound Blaster drivers. Logitech has a 64-bit SetPoint driver for their new mice. What else do you need for gaming? The one thing I can't use in 64-bit is my TV Tuner, but I don't need that for gaming. Also Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory's PunkBuster component did not like being under the 32-bit subsystem, but BF2's PunkBuster had no trouble. I played online for long periods without a single issue.

 

[justlnluck]

This is something I am curious about. Is there a portion of our 64bit processors that we are not using because we are running 32-bit operating systems? Other than the ability to have more RAM, what are we missing out on?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: justlnluck
This is something I am curious about. Is there a portion of our 64bit processors that we are not using because we are running 32-bit operating systems? Other than the ability to have more RAM, what are we missing out on?

You are using shorter CPU registers, so not as much data can be processed at once. But I suspect this is more important for servers or data processing facilities.

 

[corkyg]

How many 64-bit games exist today?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: corkyg
How many 64-bit games exist today?

UT2004 and Far Cry I think.

 

[videopho]

True 64 bit games? Not a lot...Far Cry, HL2:LC are only two I know of...The other 32 bit games may play on x64 by using Microsoft WOW32 Emulator. So there is no benefit there, or it even may be even slower than its 32 bit native machine?

 

[justlnluck]

So even though our CPUs have extra registers, they will never be utilized? How long into the future do we have to wait until 64bit processing has an advantage?

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: justlnluck
So even though our CPUs have extra registers, they will never be utilized? How long into the future do we have to wait until 64bit processing has an advantage?

Once MS launches Vista & Long Horn late this year...x64 wil soar like an eagle but I won't bet on it knowing MS is always late. Hardware is almost always several steps ahead of the software, that's the reasons and also the $$$ factor kicks in whether the demand is there.

 

[NewBlackDak]

UT2K4 feels smoother in big maps in 64-bit.

I've seen more difference in Linux between 32 & 64-bit. Gimp, MySQL, and couple encoding apps are faster in 64-bit

 

[yukichigai]

I've been running XP x64 from very shortly after it released and I have no complaints with the OS. (With companies that don't offer drivers for x64 or 64-bit builds of software, that's another thing) as has been mentioned 32-bit programs work fine under x64, and personally I've noticed that my 32-bit games run ever-so-slightly better under x64. (I attribute this to the fact that the OS processes running in the background are now 64-bit and take less processor time, leaving more for the games) The games that do have 64-bit patches run far better in a 64-bit environment; while it isn't anything as drastic as doubling the framerate, things seem to load up quicker and run smoother. Large, complex scenes take less computational time, which matters when you've just set off a chain reaction of explosions, etc.

As has been mentioned, so long as you have no bizarre hardware you can't live without you should be fine running x64.

 

[videopho]

I have now begun re-playing HL2 on my x64 platform and very happy to say that the game is in the best graphic display I've ever seen. My setting is 8xaa/16xaf, full HDR, @1680x1050 and the eVGA still able to pull out 40-50fps smooth buttery frame rate. It's nice to see when the game first get started a little banner on the top of the screen for about 20 seconds or so reads, "64 bit active mode"...Woohoo...64 bit gaming baby...

 

[LiquidImpulse]

IMO, I had x64 installed originally for about 1 month, just when i was getting all warm and cozy with my computer, i began to install several app. that x64 would not support. This annoyed me greatly because those serveral applications soon turned into a dozen, and i began an endless search for a "x64 update" for it. When i got tired and frusturated of searching for them, but to of no avail, I switched back to 32bit XP Professional, and I can say that now I'm warmer and cozier with 32 bit. Not until other companies begin to recognize the future of 64 bit and actually apply it to the consumers, will i switch back. also, I'm sure gaming makes a big difference to some people, but as long as i can play F.E.A.R/BF2 without having to scream at my computer, I'm fine with what I've got.

 

[joanknn]

Yes, 64 bit ran BF2 and HL2 smoother for me. I do not think the FPS is increased but for some reasons, the gamepleay is a lot smoother and itis noticeable. Also, I have an old audigy card in this system and I seriously think the 64 bit driver from Creative actually made the card soudn better than before too. Only regrets I have is that I can;t find any drivers for my win tv 878 based card. I ran some older 32 bit applications and was most annoyed at not having a sutiable firewall I liked. Adobe Acrobat Pro 6 had problems, Fireworks MX a little. Other than that, all ran pretty well.

 

[SynthDude2001]

I'd love to switch to x64 exclusively...it's just that HDTV tuner that I can't live without...

(If only I knew how to reverse engineer and/or hack the drivers so they could work in x64....*sigh* lol)