- Oct 9, 1999
- 31,516
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Please see the new, updated thread Windows XP Professional x64 Edition: Drivers, Free Trials, and Availability.
AnandTech Moderator
---
INTRODUCTION:
Update: Build 1830 was released to manufacturing(i.e. declared gold) on March 30th, at 5:20pm
As of this week, Microsoft has released Release Candidate 2 of "Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition"(aka WinXP 64bit edition/AMD64 edition/x86-64 edition) to the public as part of its Customer Preview Program, so here is an updated version of the original Microsoft XP64 Bit Drivers, Beta and Availability... thread(kudos to CaptnKirk) with updated information relevant to RC2.
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, and recently shipping Pentium 4 model F. 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.
As this is the second release candidate, for those of you who already did RC1, then you can just grab the new ISO from Microsoft and do an upgrade install over RC1. The keys are the same.
As for if you're new to XP64, you can pick up RC2 for free straight from Microsoft as a download, or a CD will be available in late February. Microsoft does require you to fill out an ordering page to get RC2, which includes your name, phone number, address, and email address, the last of which you must fill out correctly in order for them to send you a product key. Please note that as of RC1, XP64 does use product activation, so you will need a valid key to use it.
RC2 comes in the form of an ISO image, so you will need Nero or some sort of similar burning software to burn the image to a CD in order to install it.
Please read the release notes(DOC) before installing. It offers some insightful information on what features are known not to work, and lists some known application incompatibilities.
MANUFACTURER and COMPANY SUPPORT:
XP64 ships with out-of-the-box support for most hardware, but due to the non-final states of many drivers, you will probably need to download some drivers for your setup.
Important: Microsoft has changed the driver INF file convention for RC1 and beyond, so not all downloadable drivers made for the previous betas will work. Please see the release notes mentioned above for more information on what has changed, and how you can force XP64 to accept the old convention for now.
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(Beta 3) are reported to not support the X850 line of GPUs, nor the X800 plain the X800XL. On a related note, ATI Tool is the only overclocking tool so far for ATI GPUs that has official 64bit support.
Creative Labs
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 gone, but it's still the most focused site for getting help with XP64.
COLLOSUMUS(Out of date)
SOFTWARE WITH KNOWN ISSUES:
World of Warcraft - There are some reports of it not always exiting correctly, but this has not yet been correlated to a specific hardware setup.
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.
mIRC - There seems to be some 16bit code in the program. It can be forced to work by wiping out the "hosts" line from mirc.ini, but as you'll quickly see, don't open any sort of settings window after you've connected to a server.
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.
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:
From the Microsoft beta testers who have been using RC2 for the last week, and RC1 for a month before that, this is effectively considered a "good" release. Performance and resource usage is in-line with the 32bit version, and except for the default wallpaper and logo text on the desktop that identifies this version of Windows as x64 RC2, 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. The final version is still expected to be completed by the end of H1 '05.
AnandTech Moderator
---
INTRODUCTION:
Update: Build 1830 was released to manufacturing(i.e. declared gold) on March 30th, at 5:20pm
As of this week, Microsoft has released Release Candidate 2 of "Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition"(aka WinXP 64bit edition/AMD64 edition/x86-64 edition) to the public as part of its Customer Preview Program, so here is an updated version of the original Microsoft XP64 Bit Drivers, Beta and Availability... thread(kudos to CaptnKirk) with updated information relevant to RC2.
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, and recently shipping Pentium 4 model F. 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.
As this is the second release candidate, for those of you who already did RC1, then you can just grab the new ISO from Microsoft and do an upgrade install over RC1. The keys are the same.
As for if you're new to XP64, you can pick up RC2 for free straight from Microsoft as a download, or a CD will be available in late February. Microsoft does require you to fill out an ordering page to get RC2, which includes your name, phone number, address, and email address, the last of which you must fill out correctly in order for them to send you a product key. Please note that as of RC1, XP64 does use product activation, so you will need a valid key to use it.
RC2 comes in the form of an ISO image, so you will need Nero or some sort of similar burning software to burn the image to a CD in order to install it.
Please read the release notes(DOC) before installing. It offers some insightful information on what features are known not to work, and lists some known application incompatibilities.
MANUFACTURER and COMPANY SUPPORT:
XP64 ships with out-of-the-box support for most hardware, but due to the non-final states of many drivers, you will probably need to download some drivers for your setup.
Important: Microsoft has changed the driver INF file convention for RC1 and beyond, so not all downloadable drivers made for the previous betas will work. Please see the release notes mentioned above for more information on what has changed, and how you can force XP64 to accept the old convention for now.
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(Beta 3) are reported to not support the X850 line of GPUs, nor the X800 plain the X800XL. On a related note, ATI Tool is the only overclocking tool so far for ATI GPUs that has official 64bit support.
Creative Labs
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 gone, but it's still the most focused site for getting help with XP64.
COLLOSUMUS(Out of date)
SOFTWARE WITH KNOWN ISSUES:
World of Warcraft - There are some reports of it not always exiting correctly, but this has not yet been correlated to a specific hardware setup.
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.
mIRC - There seems to be some 16bit code in the program. It can be forced to work by wiping out the "hosts" line from mirc.ini, but as you'll quickly see, don't open any sort of settings window after you've connected to a server.
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.
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:
From the Microsoft beta testers who have been using RC2 for the last week, and RC1 for a month before that, this is effectively considered a "good" release. Performance and resource usage is in-line with the 32bit version, and except for the default wallpaper and logo text on the desktop that identifies this version of Windows as x64 RC2, 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. The final version is still expected to be completed by the end of H1 '05.
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