Switching to 64bit Win XP

[dekkaX]

Im fed up with Vista sp1.
Vista takes forever to boot since I upgraded to sp1, hangs frequently, errors, and all that on a laptop with 2.5 Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM!
My older desktop PC (Pentium D, 2 GB RAM) runs WIN XP Pro sp3 and performs well.

Im considering switching to Windows XP, but I got 4 GB of RAM which means it wont recognize it. So the best choise is a 64bit system.

I heard and read of many issues with 64 bit systems, but Id like to know a bit more, and also hear opinions of people who has done the same.

So can anyone please explain the difficulties with 64x OS in details?

Thanx in advance.

 

[Hefemeister]

what laptop do you have? You may have issues finding drivers for it. Many of the newer laptops have vista only hardware.

 

[dekkaX]

what laptop do you have? You may have issues finding drivers for it. Many of the newer laptops have vista only hardware.

HP Pavilion dv6790ej. I already checked with HP, they provide the needed drivers.

 

[Hefemeister]

A few things to look at before installing xp64bit. Any chance of spyware slowing down your system? If so look here. Have you tried any optimization to speed up your system. You can find some here.

 

[dekkaX]

A few things to look at before installing xp64bit. Any chance of spyware slowing down your system? If so look here. Have you tried any optimization to speed up your system. You can find some here.

Spyware - No, I frequently scan my computer using Nod32 and WinDefender. I aslo have COMODO which uses Defense+, when spyware tries to comunicate to the web I would see it.

Optimize - The whole problem started when I upgraded to sp1, a friend of mine who has the same model has the same problem and noticed it too. Besides shadow copy and indexing wouldn't slow the machine to that level.

And finaly, yeah I want to REALY utilize the whole 4GB + video memory, because I suspect that because 32bit win cant realy use more than 4gb, it affects the usage of the video memory and that relay slows games.

I want to go back to a more practical system, Vista is just overblown... looks pretty, I liked it for couple of month, but performance is more important to me.

 

[Hefemeister]

Good. Sounds like you have looked at it from all angles. You are correct about 4gb of ram and 32bit OS's. The maximum they can use is about 3.25gb but, if you have a copy it would not be that bad so you do not have to purchase a copy of 64bit (unless you already have that as well). Just make sure you have all of your documents backed up because it will not be an "upgrade" it will be a complete reinstall.

 

[EricB]

I don't like 64bit xp because it like to kill usb hdd's from simple copying and pasting. I'm using vista 64bit on one of my system but I refuse to add an usb to it so I don't end up with another dead drive. vista 64 isn't suppose to do it, but I won't risk it

 

[Lexluethar]

Im fed up with Vista sp1.
Vista takes forever to boot since I upgraded to sp1, hangs frequently, errors, and all that on a laptop with 2.5 Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM!
My older desktop PC (Pentium D, 2 GB RAM) runs WIN XP Pro sp3 and performs well.

Im considering switching to Windows XP, but I got 4 GB of RAM which means it wont recognize it. So the best choise is a 64bit system.

I heard and read of many issues with 64 bit systems, but Id like to know a bit more, and also hear opinions of people who has done the same.

So can anyone please explain the difficulties with 64x OS in details?

Thanx in advance.

I'm sorry...

Honestly you are right it shouldn't take that long with the system specs you've provided and the system you are running. I just worked on a very similar system with Vista Home Premium (32 bit), but the ram and processor were the same. It booted up in less than 30 seconds.

Honestly I would look at what programs are starting up with the system. What do you use as AV? Have you removed all of the bloatware that comes with computers now adays? If you've 'trimmed the fat' from the OS and it is still booting up at a slow/unacceptable rate then go back to XP if they provide the hardware drivers needed.

IMO it HAS to be something other than the OS, meaning you have a lot of programs starting up with windows.

 

[saltynay]

There isn't much difference and windows 64bit xp is a general pain in the arse as its was never well supported. The speed difference between xp and vista is negligable if you optimise it correctly turning off things like AEC, indexing and the page file (some games may not like this) plus the usual culling of startup services.

 

[Hampton]

Well if you want to use your 4 gigs of ram the Best thing out is Vista 64, IMHO is the most stable OS and it laughs @ viruses and is more compatable as XP 64 is not, XP 64 is extremely limited.

Move to Vista x64, down grading is just going backwards. I do miss my DOS games tho