XP pro vs XP64bit

Discussion in 'Software' started by twizzle, Feb 12, 2008.

  1. twizzle

    twizzle Gigabyte Poster

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    Ok so i'm planning on upgrading my pc yet again. I want to stick with XP as the OS for now as i still reckon Vista isnt stable enough (plus i dont want to shell out for it just yet).
    However i plan to put 4Gb of ram in the pc and i know that XP 32bit may not recognise this, where as 64bit will. Now i have XP32bit on the pc now, so the question is is it worth going to 64bit pro or leave it and make do with less than 4gb?

    Also if i do go the 64bit route is there an upgrade available from 32bit to 64bit?

    (and for those that i know will suggest it, i do not plan on using any form of Linux OS!!!)
     
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  2. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    First - check that your motherboard will handle the memory correctly!

    Second - check that drivers are available for the motherboard and any extras you have. While driver availability for XP64 has improved a lot there are still holes.

    Harry.
     
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  3. Stoney

    Stoney Megabyte Poster

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    XP Pro 32 bit will support 4GB of RAM, you just gotta know how to use it!!

    Linkage!!
     
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  4. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    Third - make sure your processor is a 64 bit processor.

    Its really up to you what you do. Are you desperate for the 4GB? Remember that x64 has restrictions (such as signed device drivers, etc), so you may find that its more hassle than its worth.
     
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  5. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    The snag is that in a 32bit environment things like the screen etc need to be mapped into the 4GB. So XP Pro will report less than 4GB even if it is fitted.

    Harry.
     
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  6. twizzle

    twizzle Gigabyte Poster

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    Thanks for the linky Stoney. Let me see if i have this staright then. To use upwards of 2Gb i have to put a /3Gb switch in the boot.ini file of XP? Was a little confused as it said it supported upto 4Gb and the switch was for 16Gb and over yet it had to be removed afterward???

    And to answer the others, yes my mobo will support 4gb DDR2, the processor is 64bit and no i have no idea if the drivers would be supported.

    The specs for the new pc are:-

    Intel Q6600 G0 stepping quad core cpu
    Asus P5KC motherboard (supports DDR2 and DDR3)
    4GB DDR2 OCZ ram
    Gainward 8800GT 1Gb ram Graphics card
    250Gb Sata drive
    180Gb PATA drive
    NEC DVD-RW drive

    And liek i said the OS is still to be decided.
     
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  7. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    The /3GB switch is to change *how* the memory is used. You don't need to use it, and, IIRC, Microsoft's positions is that it shouldn't be used without being certain that you need it.

    You will need to check with Asus for board support for XP64.

    Harry.
     
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  8. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    The /3GB switch is legacy config. Windows XP Pro supports up 4GB virtual address space, thats VIRTUAL address space. Devices will map sections of this for their memory mapped IO, this includes the BIOS, Graphics cards etc. Graphics cards particularly can be an issue due to the large ammout they will map, this could be over a GB with modern cards as it could be 700+MB x 3. Theres often a memory overlay approach meaning in practice things aren't quite that bad, however the net effect is that you are unlikely to be able to access the top 500MB-1GB of system memory on a typical system as these addresses have already been used.

    This means that that memory will just sit there doing nothing on the average 32 bit system.

    However Since its easier to upgrade in matched pairs most people will probably do this anyway.

    A 64 bit OS will have a 64 bit virtual address space thus fixing the problem...
     

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