64 bit windows worth using?

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Since I'm a CS student and my college has an alliance with Microsoft, I can get any operating system and or development tool Microsoft makes for free legally. That said is there still a big hit to performance on 32 bit programs in windows 64bit version? Are the drivers pretty good?

 

[Drakkon]

32 bit programs dont really run any different
drivers can be a bit hard to find if you have parts that arent supported
really i'd only install it if you have a program that is specifically compiled and utilizes 64bit programming - even then i dont think that there are but a very few out there and they would really be used by a CS student...

 

[shortylickens]

If you are talking about XP64, no.

Not many programs were made for it, drivers are a pain to find, it was really just an experiment by Microsoft.

If you are thinking about Vista 64 bit, its a good idea to wait.
The new instruction set is probably going to be the wave of the future, programmers are getting tired of the old x86 instructions.
But it will be a while before you see a bunch of 64 bit apps on the market.

If you need 64 programming, go with Linux, if you need Windows stick to XP or 2003 for now.

 

[Nothinman]

The new instruction set is probably going to be the wave of the future, programmers are getting tired of the old x86 instructions.

First the instruction set is pretty much the same, only with more larger registers. And second most programmers never see the assembly, they use higher level languages that are portable.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

The new instruction set is probably going to be the wave of the future, programmers are getting tired of the old x86 instructions.

First the instruction set is pretty much the same, only with more larger registers. And second most programmers never see the assembly, they use higher level languages that are portable.

Agreed, but at least one person has to write a new programming app. Now I dont know enough to know if its called C quadruple plus or D plus or what, but it is changing all the way down to the coding level and everyone is going to have to make some sort of adjustment.

 

[Xyclone]

From what I understand, no. I'm curious to see how Vista64 will turn out, though.

 

[Nothinman]

Agreed, but at least one person has to write a new programming app. Now I dont know enough to know if its called C quadruple plus or D plus or what, but it is changing all the way down to the coding level and everyone is going to have to make some sort of adjustment.

Huh? Pretty much every language out there already supports x86-64 targets, no new languages are required.