Should I wait for WinXP 64?

[Emultra]

My new comp with A64 CPU hasn't had an OS installed yet. I'm planning on installing WinXP Pro in a few days, but do you think it would be better to wait for the 64bit edition instead, so as to avoid doing it all over again with the OS installations in just a few weeks?

 

[homercles337]

XP 64 just went gold, so i would wait a little while. However, there arent many 64-bit apps out there yet. Even the far cry 64-bit build hasnt seen light. So maybe just do the beta, then upgrade to full release? Ack, actually i would just go with XP 32-bit until there are more apps.

 

[Emultra]

So I will only be able to utilize my 64-bit ability in actual, concrete 64-bit applications? There's no inherent bonuses in the OS itself, or to general performance?

 

[homercles337]

Nope. SOrry. Its really just XP in 64-bit mode. It runs most 32-bits apps great, but you only get really great advantages with 64-bit apps.

 

[jamesbond007]

Yeah, homercles337 is right. XP64 doesn't have very many advantages without the majority of apps being converted, too. On the brightside, according to Microsoft, it should be relatively easy for programmers to convert their existing 32-bit code into 64-bit. Well, MS may be making this look easy so people will buy into the whole x64 extravaganza more easily.

At any rate, this is one of the few reasons I'm still on a 32-bit processor and have no intentions of trying 64-bit for at least another year. The major reason being dual-core processors on the horizon.