- Oct 9, 1999
- 31,516
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INTRODUCTION:
As of today (April 25th, 2005), Microsoft has formally released the retail version of "Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition"(aka WinXP 64bit edition/AMD64 edition/x86-64 edition) to consumers, so here is an updated version of the original WindowsXP 64bit Edition: Drivers, Release Candidates, and Availability, Part 2... thread(kudos to CaptnKirk) with updated information relevant to the final release.
First and foremost, this version of Windows (obviously) requires that you have some sort of processor that supports the AMD64 spec, which at this time is the Athlon64, AthlonFX, "Nocona" Xeon, the Pentium 4 5x1 series, the Pentium 4 6xx series, the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73ghz, and the Pentium Extreme Edition(i.e. the dual-core EE chips). Additional official requirements include 256MB RAM, 1.5GB available HD space, Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution video card, CD-ROM or DVD drive, and a Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
Of important note, with the official launch Microsoft has effectively ended the customer preview program, replacing it with a trial program, so if you are/were using a previous release candidate, you are advised to wipe it when you install one of the final versions of XP64.
Before you jump in, please check out Microsoft's XP64 support site for more information on XP64. It offers some insightful notes on what features are known not to work, and lists some known application incompatibilities and other useful information on determining if XP64 will work for you.
Trying Out XP64
For those of you who are not sure if XP64 is right for you, Microsoft is offering a free trial of the new operating system. The trial comes in two forms: a downloadable version, and a CD that has a shipping & handling charge for to cover delivering it. At this time, it's reccomended you get the downloadable version, both to save on the $10 or so S&H charge on the CD version, and because it currently takes 4 to 6 weeks to actually recieve the CD versus 6-12 hours to recieve the download email. The trial version is time locked to 120 days, and as a fully functional copy of XP64 requires activation within 14 days. To get the trial version, please visit Microsoft's XP64 trial website.
Trading-In For XP64
The trade-in program ended as of August 1st. If you want to get a permanent copy of XP64, you must now buy a full OEM copy.
Purchasing XP64
The following online vendors are now selling OEM copies of XP64(there will be no retail copies of it)
Monarch Computer
DLJ Systems
Newegg
Planet AMD64(a community site)
MANUFACTURER and COMPANY SUPPORT:
XP64 ships with out-of-the-box support for most hardware, but due to the continuing development of many drivers, you will probably need to download some drivers for your setup.
Important: Microsoft has changed the driver INF file convention for XP64 as of RC1 and beyond, so not all early drivers made for the beta releases will work. If you encounter this, there should be newer drivers available.
AMD WEBSITE
The big list of driver support. It's not necessarily up to date, but it can help point you in the right place.
MATROX
nVidia
There are newer versions of the graphics drivers floating around than what Nvidia has listed. You may want to get those instead.
ATI
The latest drivers are now fully in sync with 32bit releases and are out of the beta stage. On a related note, ATI Tool is the only overclocking tool so far for ATI GPUs that has official 64bit support.
Creative Labs(drivers are still in a non-final state are are time-bombed)
VIA Arena
EXPERIMENTAL & USER MADE DRIVERS
Realtek RTL8139 PCI - Fast Ethernet
Promise FastTrack 378/TX4000/S150 TX (BETA)
3Com 3c940 Driver(found on many K8T800 motherboards, including Abit KV8 series)
Many device manufacturers have some sort of 64bit driver available, so please visit their site if it isn't listed here or a shipping driver did not come with Windows
RANDOM SUPPORT SITES:
PLANETAMD64 Their online driver database is perhaps the best resource out there for tracking down rare/unusual drivers.
WindowsServerx64
SOFTWARE WITH KNOWN ISSUES:
All 16bit applications - The AMD64bit design does not support any sort of 16bit mode when running in 64bit mode, so all 16bit applications(and those that use 16bit code in 32bit applications) are broken. Besides, if you need to run a 16bit application, you probably need a 286, not a Pentium 4.
Cygwin - Cygwin tries to use the 64bit CMD console, which doesn't get along with Cygwin very well. Cygwin will work if you force it to use the 32bit console, however.
Web browsing - The are reports of some sites(including BTEfnet.com) locking up computers when rendering a specific image with a 32bit browser, this has not been tracked down to a specific hardware configuration however. Should you encounter this, using the included 64bit version of IE will bypass the problem. Also, there is not a 64bit version of Flash(yet), so for the most part, you will need to use a 32bit browser in the mean time. Windows update is also still 32bit limited, so you will have to use IE32 to access it.
Java - While there is a 64bit version of Java, there is not a 64bit version of the SWT library yet(used by the Eclipse line of programs and Azureus), so should you need to use these programs, you will need to install the 32bit version of Java instead.
PERFORMANCE & IMPRESSIONS:
So far there have been no major complaints about XP64, RC2 was a solid release and this has not changed for the final version. Performance and resource usage is in-line with the 32bit version, and except for the default wallpaper and startup screen that identifies this version of Windows as x64, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference(think of it as the Pepsi Challenge). There are a handful of reports stating that overclocked machines that are stable in 32bit mode weren't stable in 64bit mode, indicating that 64bit mode may be harder on processors and/or certain parts of the processor weren't stable at the overclocked speed but aren't active in 32bit mode, but this has yet to be confirmed. Still, there are no major outstanding issues with the OS that should keep anyone even remotely curious away at this point. With XP64 finally out, there should hopefully be some more driver and 64bit app releases shortly.
Also, we have an informative thread if you're curious about performance specifics under XP64.
As of today (April 25th, 2005), Microsoft has formally released the retail version of "Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition"(aka WinXP 64bit edition/AMD64 edition/x86-64 edition) to consumers, so here is an updated version of the original WindowsXP 64bit Edition: Drivers, Release Candidates, and Availability, Part 2... thread(kudos to CaptnKirk) with updated information relevant to the final release.
First and foremost, this version of Windows (obviously) requires that you have some sort of processor that supports the AMD64 spec, which at this time is the Athlon64, AthlonFX, "Nocona" Xeon, the Pentium 4 5x1 series, the Pentium 4 6xx series, the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73ghz, and the Pentium Extreme Edition(i.e. the dual-core EE chips). Additional official requirements include 256MB RAM, 1.5GB available HD space, Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution video card, CD-ROM or DVD drive, and a Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
Of important note, with the official launch Microsoft has effectively ended the customer preview program, replacing it with a trial program, so if you are/were using a previous release candidate, you are advised to wipe it when you install one of the final versions of XP64.
Before you jump in, please check out Microsoft's XP64 support site for more information on XP64. It offers some insightful notes on what features are known not to work, and lists some known application incompatibilities and other useful information on determining if XP64 will work for you.
Trying Out XP64
For those of you who are not sure if XP64 is right for you, Microsoft is offering a free trial of the new operating system. The trial comes in two forms: a downloadable version, and a CD that has a shipping & handling charge for to cover delivering it. At this time, it's reccomended you get the downloadable version, both to save on the $10 or so S&H charge on the CD version, and because it currently takes 4 to 6 weeks to actually recieve the CD versus 6-12 hours to recieve the download email. The trial version is time locked to 120 days, and as a fully functional copy of XP64 requires activation within 14 days. To get the trial version, please visit Microsoft's XP64 trial website.
Trading-In For XP64
The trade-in program ended as of August 1st. If you want to get a permanent copy of XP64, you must now buy a full OEM copy.
Purchasing XP64
The following online vendors are now selling OEM copies of XP64(there will be no retail copies of it)
Monarch Computer
DLJ Systems
Newegg
Planet AMD64(a community site)
MANUFACTURER and COMPANY SUPPORT:
XP64 ships with out-of-the-box support for most hardware, but due to the continuing development of many drivers, you will probably need to download some drivers for your setup.
Important: Microsoft has changed the driver INF file convention for XP64 as of RC1 and beyond, so not all early drivers made for the beta releases will work. If you encounter this, there should be newer drivers available.
AMD WEBSITE
The big list of driver support. It's not necessarily up to date, but it can help point you in the right place.
MATROX
nVidia
There are newer versions of the graphics drivers floating around than what Nvidia has listed. You may want to get those instead.
ATI
The latest drivers are now fully in sync with 32bit releases and are out of the beta stage. On a related note, ATI Tool is the only overclocking tool so far for ATI GPUs that has official 64bit support.
Creative Labs(drivers are still in a non-final state are are time-bombed)
VIA Arena
EXPERIMENTAL & USER MADE DRIVERS
Realtek RTL8139 PCI - Fast Ethernet
Promise FastTrack 378/TX4000/S150 TX (BETA)
3Com 3c940 Driver(found on many K8T800 motherboards, including Abit KV8 series)
Many device manufacturers have some sort of 64bit driver available, so please visit their site if it isn't listed here or a shipping driver did not come with Windows
RANDOM SUPPORT SITES:
PLANETAMD64 Their online driver database is perhaps the best resource out there for tracking down rare/unusual drivers.
WindowsServerx64
SOFTWARE WITH KNOWN ISSUES:
All 16bit applications - The AMD64bit design does not support any sort of 16bit mode when running in 64bit mode, so all 16bit applications(and those that use 16bit code in 32bit applications) are broken. Besides, if you need to run a 16bit application, you probably need a 286, not a Pentium 4.
Cygwin - Cygwin tries to use the 64bit CMD console, which doesn't get along with Cygwin very well. Cygwin will work if you force it to use the 32bit console, however.
Web browsing - The are reports of some sites(including BTEfnet.com) locking up computers when rendering a specific image with a 32bit browser, this has not been tracked down to a specific hardware configuration however. Should you encounter this, using the included 64bit version of IE will bypass the problem. Also, there is not a 64bit version of Flash(yet), so for the most part, you will need to use a 32bit browser in the mean time. Windows update is also still 32bit limited, so you will have to use IE32 to access it.
Java - While there is a 64bit version of Java, there is not a 64bit version of the SWT library yet(used by the Eclipse line of programs and Azureus), so should you need to use these programs, you will need to install the 32bit version of Java instead.
PERFORMANCE & IMPRESSIONS:
So far there have been no major complaints about XP64, RC2 was a solid release and this has not changed for the final version. Performance and resource usage is in-line with the 32bit version, and except for the default wallpaper and startup screen that identifies this version of Windows as x64, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference(think of it as the Pepsi Challenge). There are a handful of reports stating that overclocked machines that are stable in 32bit mode weren't stable in 64bit mode, indicating that 64bit mode may be harder on processors and/or certain parts of the processor weren't stable at the overclocked speed but aren't active in 32bit mode, but this has yet to be confirmed. Still, there are no major outstanding issues with the OS that should keep anyone even remotely curious away at this point. With XP64 finally out, there should hopefully be some more driver and 64bit app releases shortly.
Also, we have an informative thread if you're curious about performance specifics under XP64.
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