Windows XP Pro X64-- Worthwhile?

[Jonathan Bones]

Basically, I'm being offered XP Pro X64 essentially for free with this used system I'm buying. At first, I was excited. Then I became somewhat concerned when I turned to Newegg for reviews.

Am I going to be good with this, or is it going to be a frustration to run for a purely casual PC enthusiast like me? Is this going to become the Windows no one wants, the bridge between XP and Vista as ME came between 98SE and XP?

Fellow assures me that all hardware has 64bit drivers. And I think the only thing I want to add right now is a recent-generation Hauppauge TV tuner. So I should be fine when it comes to hardware compatibility, right?

But what about software? This is going to be my gaming machine, as well as my TV, DVD player, and office. Am I going to find out that, whoops!, I'm not going to be able to run Starcraft, Office 2000, or PowerDVD 4, the only DVD-player software I can stand? Reviews mention that a lot of pay-antivirus software won't work with XP X64. Well, I don't use any pay software right now-- but I do use free versions of Avast and Zone Alarm. Are those going to work?

I am keeping my old PC to use alongside my new one-- so I'll never be without the internet due to an XP X64 bug, or anything. But ideally, I want to move all entertainment/work functions over to my new system. Will I be able to do that?

I don't need a massive software headache to accompany my nice, fast new PC.

 

[talldude123]

Avast supports XP 64-bit.

Interactual Player supports XP 64-bit (DVD Player)

OpenOffice supports 64-bit XP.


You probably wouldn't want to use Internet on a nice gaming machine, in case you get a virus.

Keep the least applications on it, so you get the best gaming performance.

 

[Jonathan Bones]

Well, I appreciate the sentiment talldude123, but as I say, I'm only a casual enthusiast. ;P I like computers, but I'm not an overclocker or FPS-maxer or anything like that.

On the other hand, if I have a good KVM, maybe you're right. Maybe I should offload some minimum-requirement tasks to my old machine. But I want to be able to do it all on my new one, just for convenience's sake and in case my old one ever dies.

Some of what I'm reading seems to suggest that only what's deeply integrated into the OS needs to be compatible. Stand-alone software and games tend to be emulated fine. Is this accurate? I don't want to run DOS games or something. (If I did, I'd expect to have to use a stand-alone emulator, anyway.) But what if I wanted to play Fallout, or something? Would I be able to run a Windows game from 1997? (I picked an older example I've run with no problems under XP Pro.)

I'm sort of excited if this prompts me to try out open source software I've always heard about but never looked into. On the other hand, it would be nice to know that my current software will run in case I need it to.

 

[talldude123]

Windows XP 32-bit will still work with your 64-bit processor, it just wotn be as fast.

My parents have an AMD Athlon 64 2800, and its on 32-bit XP, but they dont get the full speed of the processor.

 

[tommyboy123x]

yea, i have 32 bit windows, but no, zonealarme doesnt work with x64... sorry

not sure about avast, havn't tried it

theoretically, XP x64 should have all the capabilities as XP 32, however this is not theory land. A few apps wont work, and will give you headaches. If you have a copy of xp 32, i suggest you install that so that you can rest easy.

x64 is usually for power users, like those who use x64 applications everyday. usually these applications are thigns like AutoCAD programs, Mathimaticall programs, and other hard core user programs

you'll still get a good running processor... its just that XP x64 has VERY few drivers... not to mention the fact that vista is coming out soon, Microsoft's new Operating System

 

[talldude123]

Vista would run very nicely on your new system, Johnathan. But why pay $400USD for Home Edition, thats crazy!

 

[Jonathan Bones]

Ugh, so Zone Alarm just won't work? Period?

Are there other software firewalls that would?

As much as I'd like to be considered a power user, I'm not one. I like PCs, and I can do the bulk of my own regular maintenance. But I'm no techie.

 

[Jonathan Bones]

Vista would run very nicely on your new system, Johnathan. But why pay $400USD for Home Edition, thats crazy!

Is that how much Vista will cost? Well, despite my interest in Vista, I doubt I'd purchase it for any system soon after release for compatibility's sake, regardless of cost.

What I was really planning to do was to use the XP Home license I thought I was getting on another system, and then buy MCE for this one, for the Hauppauge card I'm getting. But if X64 would work for me, I'd obviously be getting good value, as the guy's basically throwing it in.

 

[talldude123]

In another move to make people ready as we're heading to the Windows Vista Beta 2 release at WinHEC, which begins tomorrow, some informations that are apparently the final Windows Vista prices, classified by product editions (SKUs) just leaked over the web. There you go:

-Windows Vista Home Basic - 200€ or 255.55$ or 135.95£
-Windows Vista Home Premium - 400€ or 511.10$ or 271.90£
-Windows Vista Ultimate Edition - 500€ or 638.88$ or 339.87£
-Windows Vista Business - 650€ or 830.54$ or 441.84£
-Windows Vista Enterprise - 800€ or 1,022.20$ or 543.80£

I'd still like to remind you that Microsoft did not actually make them official, but the sources that told that are apparently good

http://www.jcxp.net/

Straight from Warez Monster.

 

[tommyboy123x]

straight from JCXP******, lol

as stated, they like to get people talking. notice how business costs more than ultimate? :::::

*******ULTIMATE*********
Home prem. **ENTERPRISE**
Home business*


as so accuratly displayed above, the ultimate edition will have most, if not all, of the features, whereas the enterprise, home prem, home, and business will have a more standard ones. the enterprise and business being like "Pro" and "Pro Basic"

Home Premium is like Media Center, and Home Basic like XP Home. Ultimate is suppposed to have the best mix of the high quality networking tools of Pro, with the entertainment of Home, as well as some extra performance tweakers rumored about.


so why would these business and enterprise cost more?!
they wont.




and yes, with my experience zonealarm didnt work. Tiny works... not sure what it is but its on this forum... search google for something liek "firewalls with xp x64" w/o the "" marks.

the Nvidia firewall works, as well as the Windows one w/ SP2