windows xp pro 32bit or 64bit

[Juno]

i bought both licensed cd's for $81 from my college (RIT) bookstore. i am wondering if 64bit can perform/load every program of my needs for multi-tasking such as games (cs:s, bf2, fear, AA and so on) and programs such as alcohol 120%, adobe photoshop and illustrator, video editing programs and so on?

or should i stick with 32bit and wait till 64bit is fully developed. (i don't know if they are, i'm behind the news with 64bit.)

with understanding, i can only use them once and after that, they are no good.

which one is the right pill for me to survive? 😛

-juno

 

[The Borg]

As far as I know about the OS's, the only problem you may have is proper 64-bit drivers and support for the hardware you are running. The programs should run fine. There used to be problems trying to run DOS/win 3.1 type stuff on Win NT because they wanted to speak directly to the hardware and NT did not allow that for security reasons. I don't think that is an issue anymore. If a program will run on a 32 bit version, there is a good chance it will on a 64 bit version - again, the only problem may be drivers. I think 64 bit is rather developed. After all Win 2003 server 64 bit has been out well over a year now, if not 2 years.

As far a using them only once as you put it, I would think that you can only legally use one at a time, not just once. And you have a few days to activate the software anyway.

 

[ProviaFan]

Unless you have more than 3GB of RAM or need to run 64 bit applications, there's probably not much reason to use XP x64. Some say it runs faster; I used to think that, but anymore I'm not sure that there's a real difference in performance over 32 bit XP. Drivers are a hassle, but if your hardware is fully supported, I don't see why not to give XP x64 a try if you like the novelty of it.

 

[John]

Stick with XP 32-bit, skip XP 64-bit, and switch to Vista once you have the upgrade bug.