x64 and x86 Question

Steve Watford · 29 Jul 2006 at 13:49

Recently I purchased an AMD 64 Bit Processor in my new system, on the box for the processor it says its backwards compatable with 32 bit.

So if I installed Windows XP Pro x64 on this, would i be able to run 32 bit applications inside XP pro x64?

ajgoodfellow · 29 Jul 2006 at 19:30

Steve Watford said:
Recently I purchased an AMD 64 Bit Processor in my new system, on the box for the processor it says its backwards compatable with 32 bit.

So if I installed Windows XP Pro x64 on this, would i be able to run 32 bit applications inside XP pro x64?

Yep

I have done for about a year now

A few applications don't work on XP x64 - Alcohol (use Daemon tools instead), MS Virtual PC 2004 (use VMWare instead) and a few old DOS and Win 3.1 programs spring to mind. I don't think games with Starforce copy protection work either

Everything else works perfectly though. I can play all of the current games and software and most of this is 32-bit. Windows x64 just seems a bit quicker

If you can find the drivers then I'd use it personally

Steve Watford · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:24

Thats what worries me, drivers, I heard bad thigns about the beta x64 drivers most of my hardware needs. I'll check aroudn see if there stable enough anyway, im thinknig of going full x64 Pro system next week, just going to get EVERYTHING i need, incase my internet shuts off while im doing it.

Steve Watford · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:48

And em, if i cant find any x64 drivers for my hardware, can x32 drivers work properly on x64 OS?

Indy500 · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:51

Steve Watford said:
can x32 drivers work properly on x64 OS?

No.

Steve Watford · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:57

But Programs Can/ If so, can anyone explain why this is? is it because the x64 kernel is different from the x32 kernel? (NT and 2003)

Indy500 · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:59

Steve Watford said:
But Programs Can/ If so, can anyone explain why this is? is it because the x64 kernel is different from the x32 kernel? (NT and 2003)

32bit applications dont run natively, they run using what is basically a pretty form of emulation.

ajgoodfellow · 29 Jul 2006 at 23:07

I haven't had any problems with the drivers I'm using on my current setup:

AMD Opteron 146
ASUS SK8V Motherboard (Via K8T800 chipset)
PowerColor Radeon X800Pro 256MB DDR3 graphics card

Using on board LAN and sound

stoofa · 30 Jul 2006 at 12:25

If the drivers exist for your hardware you won't have "any problems" with them per say.
However the fact they are immature and only (at the moment) get updated with half the regularity that 32bit drivers seem to - any performance gain from moving to 64bit is quickly negated with lower driver performance.

X64 Windows was released to keep the AMD crowd happy as they had a 64bit CPU and no OS to run on it (except Linux).
Once Vista becomes mainstream, that'll be the time to make the move to 64bit Windows.

Steve Watford · 30 Jul 2006 at 12:54

Maybe i should just do dual boot between 64 and 32 then?

Steve Watford · 30 Jul 2006 at 12:55

ajgoodfellow said:
I haven't had any problems with the drivers I'm using on my current setup:

AMD Opteron 146
ASUS SK8V Motherboard (Via K8T800 chipset)
PowerColor Radeon X800Pro 256MB DDR3 graphics card

Using on board LAN and sound

Are you using 64Bit XP?
Are you running x64 or x32 Drivers?

ajgoodfellow · 30 Jul 2006 at 13:20

Steve Watford said:
Are you using 64Bit XP?
Are you running x64 or x32 Drivers?

I'm running 64-bit XP with x64 drivers

If you want any of them give me a shout

I found them on the manufacturer's websites for most of them, and a few via a google search