Core 2 Duo and a 64bit OS?

[ROfu]

Hey guys just wanted to ask the lucky few, who have thier core 2s if anyones running windowsXP64 or a linux64bit kernal.
Am going to be testing out Vista64bit when i order my cpu in a weeks time, after that test, windowsXP64 will be installed.

Has anyone tried thier cores with 64bit, stable? faster? and whats the ram situation on core 2 compatible boards? anyone tried thier system with 4gb+?
I will be using this system for the odd game, but mainly as a 3d workstation.
therefore a 64bit OS is essential.

Any comments or points would be appreciated.

Cheers
ROfu

 

[stoofa]

Why would using your machine as a 3D workstation make a 64bit OS essential?
As you are using your machine mainly as a professional tool then I would recommend that you stick to a 32bit OS until there is something out there worth moving too.
64bit Windows XP was only ever released because AMD needed something to help sell thier new 64bit CPU.
Seriously - Microsoft were never really considering 64bit for the desktop until the release of Vista.
However because of delays with Vista that would have meant AMD having a 64bit capable CPU to market and no 64bit Windows to go with it for well over 18 months - not good, so AMD managed to convince MS to build XP 64bit.

I'm not saying definitely don't use it.
However from your post you're giving the impression you've got no choice.
WinXP will happily use 3GB of RAM (theoretically it can support 4GB but then we get into conversations on Kernel sizes etc) which is enough for even the heaviest application currently on the market and affordable by some.
You've still got immature drivers for most hardware devices - if there is 64bit drivers available.
This means performance decreases etc.

I'd say stick to safe and sound WinXP Pro 32bit.
Use the mature drivers and the super fast Core Duo's and worry about 64it next year once Vista is released.
I'm building my Conroe E6600, 4GB RAM system tomorrow and over the weekend and although I have accrss to WinXP Pro 64bit I know which OS I'll be sticking too.

 

[Stephen B]

running xp64 here for past week on a clocked 6300, no probs at all so far,2 gigs of cheapo corsair vs

will probably chuck wildfire on it sometime soon as well

 

[ROfu]

Stoofa: please dont take this as having a go -
Ironically i get the same response everytime i ask about 64bit on these forums - yes 64bit IS essential, ive been working in the film industry for a good few years, and the level of detail in scenes we produce has been getting higher and higher. 3gb of memory is not even close to usefull these days. we use a linux64 kernal mainly and i can assure you that it IS essential.
I dual boot to windows64 as i prefer the windows environment to linux (even if linux is more stable) Considering Maya 8 is now 64bit, which means the content creation environment is now true 64bit, workflow will be improved considerably not just through additional ram.
Having used windows 64 for the better part of a year on the last few projects in film and TV, its proven itself more stable and reliable than 32bit windows (once you have the right drivers) not only that there are multiple scenes which windows 32bit wont even load because of the massive memory requirements - which although windows 32bit can "support" theoretically 38bit memory allocation. Anyone who has used windows for these kind of applications knows that windows still has issues, with it more oftern than not becomimg unstable.

So to my original question - without being patronising or offensive, i purely wish to know who has used thier new chips with windows64 or on a linux64 distro and what thier experiences have been so far.

ROfu

ps cheers for the reply stephen B this is good to know.

 

[dafloppyone]

HEHE translation im not trying to offend you but im gonna do it anyway!

 

[philhoole]

Why would using your machine as a 3D workstation make a 64bit OS essential?
As you are using your machine mainly as a professional tool then I would recommend that you stick to a 32bit OS until there is something out there worth moving too.

Stoofa, I don't know if you use any 3D software but there certainly is something worth moving to available right now. There are already several major applications availbale in native 64 bit versions and the Maya/Max versions have just been anounced.

In my experience I get 10-15% faster render performance and this is on files that use under 2GB memory. If anything Windows feels slightly snappier but that's hard to quantify.

As regards drivers, are things really that bad. Everything I need seems to be covered - maybe I'm just lucky as I don't need much more than drivers for the motherboard,chipset and GPU really. I don't have any problems at all. None.

The only issue I have with 64 bit 3D applications is that any plugins also need to be 64 bit and many of them haven't been updated.

Can't say what gaming is like though as I haven't tried any.

So, whilst not essential I believe it's the right OS for me. Then again there is the saying that if you have to ask why you might want XP64 then you don't need it.