Windows 64 Professional and Dual Core Processors

[Arkane13131]

hello, im a little confused about somethings and most forum posts i read, people already know enough basic information to surpass me so it does not do me much good x.x

i would like to know a few things...
im buying a new system and i was planning on getting amd 3800+ x-2
my producer (i am a musician) bought windows 64 professional, and said he was not happy because of driver issues or something with his music equipment, so....he gave it to me.

i hear about alot of problems with dual core, when games arent optimized for it... (which is 99% of em) and there is a windows xp hotfix or something that i dont understand to solve it... (all i hear is...patch, registry edit, power settings, cool n quiet ect ect) tbh it confuses me.

what im asking is, does windows 64 have this same issue? does windows 64 run all the current games just fine? (i never saw it up and running, idk anything about the 64 bit version)
if i have a dual core and windows 64, do i need to do something so that my processor's potential is realized? i have a copy of windows xp for my emachines (comes with tons of extras that i hate, emachines computer was a gift from the folks who know nothing other than i was poor and needed a comp lol...they meant well) so i would prefer not to use that, and use this win64 that my friend gave me.

thanks for any insight...sorry if im retarded for not understanding the myriad of posts about this.

 

[MrChad]

Both Windows XP-32 and XP-64 run just fine with a dual core processor. Many games aren't optimized for dual core processors (they need to be multi-threaded, i.e. run two or more processes simultaneously, in order to fully utilize multiple cores). That doesn't mean they won't run just fine, even if a single core is used. You'll realize the benefits of dual core processors any time you multi-task between applications.

Windows XP-64, as your producer mentioned, suffers from a lack of driver support. This means that in many cases, software that runs fine in XP-32 may not run as well in XP-64, simply because the hardware drivers are not as mature as their 32-bit counterparts. This is probably true when it comes to music hardware and software, and it's definitely true with games. A lot of it depends on the exact hardware you are working with. There are many threads on this topic; you may want to search and find others' opinions.

Just a quick note about the copy of XP from your previous PC. Technically, under the OEM license, you cannot transfer that copy of XP to your new machine. Look into to purchasing a retail copy of XP for your new PC; that will allow you to transfer your license to any PC you choose should you stop using your current one. Your best bet may be to try and work with XP-64 until Vista is released later this year.

Good luck!