I'm shopping for a new system

Question is about 64-bit CPU like AMD Athlon - I don't know anything
about 64-bit system.

I intend to wipe Vista from the new system and install the good old XP

Can XP (32 bit) run on the 64-bit CPU ?
Can 32-bit applications run normally ?


thanks

On Apr 27, 8:03 pm, preedom <webtour...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yes and yes no problem

You want XP 32 bit. Pretty much all current processors ... both Intel
and AMD ... support 64-bit instructions, and they ALL (no exceptions)
ALSO support 32-bit instructions, but if you install a 64-bit OS (either
Vista or XP) you will almost certainly regret it, there are a ton of
compatability and driver issues.


preedom wrote:

ah thanks Barry

Barry Watzman wrote:
I've installed Solaris 10 (x86) and don't regret it. That is 64-bit, but
will also run 32-bit binaries. That said, given my laptop only has 2 GB
of RAM, there is not really much to gain from a 64-bit OS.

So is there any gain in running 32-bit OS on 64-bit CPU vs 32-bit
CPU ???
or is it just an upgrade for nothing ?

First, we are talking about Windows, not Solaris.

Second, there are a LOT of hardware devices that don't have 64-bit
drivers, and there is a LOT of software that isn't available in a 64-bit
edition (and the 32-bit edition may not work under XP 64 or Vista 64).
And, finally, even when the drivers are available and the software
(whichever version) works, in many cases there is simply no benefit.

There are very few cases (a few, but very few) in which there is any
reason to use 64-bit software.


Dave wrote:

There is no benefit in the situation you describe.

There are SOME (VERY FEW) situations in which you get a significant
performance benefit by running the 64-bit version of a software package
on a 64-bit OS. Those few situations are the reason (the only reason)
for doing it.


preedom wrote:

Barry Watzman wrote:

Also worth noting is that often there is a performance disadvantage of
64-bit applications. All pointers to memory are larger, so less can be
fitted in the cache.

The current hype about 64-bit machines is just hype

"preedom" <webtourist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a9ab7025-6214-4f3c-a898-d3ef490a2bec@e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
Sensible move. Before you do this, make sure that the appropriate chipset,
motherboard and other hardware drivers are available for XP. You might want
to image the Vista installation with soemthing like True Image just in case
you have an uncontrollable urge to revert back to Vista.

Yes.

They certainly can.

Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> writes:

Where I work (a video game developer), all the new machines are quad-core CPUs running XP
64. There are two basic reasons for switching from 32 to 64-bit Windows:

* Some artists need to deal with very large amounts of data in Maya, and the 2 GB limit of
the 32-bit version is a problem.

* Programmers can make good use of 4 GB of real memory (or more). 32-bit windows only
allows use of about 3 GB of RAM, no matter how much you actually install.

But unless you're already doing something that needs more than 2 GB per process, or more
than 3 GB total, you probably don't need a 64-bit OS yet. And as others have pointed out,
there are a number of things that won't work under XP 64.

Dave

Dave Martindale wrote:


There are a couple of other reasons for using 64-bit operating systems.
On Solaris x86, which I am running on this laptop, one of the
applications is only available as 64-bit.

http://www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica/platforms/

Although 32-bit versions are available for linux, windows and Apple mac,
for many other platforms there are no 32-bit versions.

Anyone with an interest in number theory, or have other reasons for
using large integers, will find computers can do such calculations much
faster if the CPU has more bits. If one wanted to calculate 100
factorial, the result is larger than even a 64-bit number. But the
number can be calculated much quicker if the processor supports 64-bit
integers.


100!=933262154439441526816992388562667004907159682 6438162146859296389521759\
99932299156089414639761565182862536979208272237582 51185210916864000000\
000000000000000000

But the number of people interested in such things, or factoring large
primes is not huge.

A chess board has 64 squares and some chess programs work by allocating
one bit to each square. Chess programs tend to work much better if 64-bit.

But for 99% of people, there is no advantage in 64-bits and very
definate disadvantages.

Give it a few years, when a word processor needs 2 GB of RAM and there
will be a need for 64-bit operating systems for general use. But there
is not now, and there would not be if it was not for software bloat.

"preedom" <webtourist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:62b716dd-6fec-4b73-b8d6-dff5975355d2@27g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
It's a mute point because any cpu you buy is going to be 64 bit. Better
shop around and make sure you can get XP drivers for new system with Vista
that you are purchasing.

"Jerry" <He...@abcdefgspam.com> wrote:
right I didn't know "Intel Core 2" is 64-bit