Windows 7 64 bit

Hello

I am considering changing to Windows 7 64 bit (from Windows XP Pro 32 bit)

I would say I am a "power-user" with several hundred applications and utilities
as a microsoft application developer I have multiple versions of visual studio, sql server, many sdks etc. As a game developer stuff like 3DS Max, XNA Game Studio etc.

I know many of my tools and utilities will need to be changed eg. PartitionMagic, Ghost, WinMTR etc.

And there will be many small headaches with the whole 32 bit 64 bit change which I have already experienced through upgrading Windows Servers to 64 bit (much simpler configuration than my workstation)

My question is this:

given the upgrade process could take me hundreds of hours to complete
and cost me thousands of pounds in upgraded software etc.

WILL THE NEW SYSTEM WORK PROPERLY?

or will I be in a world of pain? out of pocket and stuck with a hardware/software combination that works less well than my current system?

been running the 64 bit version for months and hav'nt had any problems at all, then again i have modern hardware and don't really have a lot of programs installed, the biggest hinderance in switching to 64 bit is drivers for older hardware.

Having been running Win 7 x64 since the beta, it is very stable and there should be no issues. Compatibility with 32-bit apps seems to be fine. Why not dual boot Win 7 and XP - and gradually migrate all your files and applications over ?

Also, you could get Win 7 Professional - which includes XP mode to maintain 100% compatibility.

The main issue is really 64-bit drivers - what are your system specs ?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15&displayLang=en you could give this a whirl to see if your system and programs will be fine, the only program on mine it said it may have problems with was ut2004 not tried it yet though since going to win7...

It is not worth the trouble.

It makes no sense to spend so much time and money and not get anything in return except what you had at the start.

As yet neither Microsoft or anybody else has named one real, tangible benefit I might gain when switching to Windows 7.

But I can name *many* real tangible costs and issues! LOL!

I will stick with XP until I am forced to change, I have managed to avoid Vista, hopefully
I can avoid Windows 7 also.

I know none of my customers have any intentions of moving away from XP.

How about dual booting to give it a whirl?

The only person who can tell you whether everything you need will work properly is yourself, through testing it out. Sure the effort required might outweigh the benefits right now, but out of simple curiosity I imagine you'd at least want to try it. Dual-boot as suggested above or try it in a VM.

If you're using 3dmax and similar software separate executables are provided for 64bit OS's. 64bit will allow the application to use more memory than it's 32bit sibling and ultimately will increase performance/render times.

Not sure what sort of development work you are doing, but if you are pushing the current 32bit memory boundaries (2gb per app, 4gb in total) - perhaps in any apps for level/map creation - then moving to 64bit will allow you to address more memory.

The biggest benefit is going to be the increased RAM 64bit systems can utilise, this may be in an individual app, or across the whole system if your workflow is geared around having multiple apps open at the same time.

As for the applications you use, particularly system utilities, are you sure they are all still necessary?

Also what about the people you're developing for? Will you be able to develop for them when they are asking for 64bit versions of your software?

Use the Upgrade Advisor as mentioned, its what its there for