Windows 64Bit questions

[Bob The Great]

First off let me show you what I have and what I'm upgrading too so you can see what I'm doing.

AthlonXP 2500+ --> Athlon 64 3000+
Radeon 9800 128mb
512mbs PC-2700 --> 1GB PC-2700
EPOX 8RDA+ --> MSI K8T NEO
80GB Maxtor
2x40GB Maxtor --> 160GB SATA Seagate
16xdvd
52x24x52x cd-rw
sonata case

I just downloaded the 1year trial of windows64bit from Microsofts website in preperation of my computer update. My upgrade is going to involve reinstalling the OS as I'm moving to all this new equipment, so I'm planning on switching to the 64bit version of windows. Is this a good idea? Will drivers and EVERYTHING else work with this new version or should I just go with XP PRO. I'm guessing I probably won't see much speed boost in windows, or any programs with the 64 bit ed but I'm hopeing that later on it will give some boost as 64bit apps start coming out. What are the likely problems I could run into with a 64bit os compatibility wise and do you think I should upgrade my os?

BTW I'm also trying to keep this upgrade on the downlow. I don't want people to know whats under the hood so if I go 64 bit is the bootscreen and such different? If so I guess I'll have to switch that out too.

Thanks

[cysus]

well first off window xp 64bit is still not as polished as it should be, it has driver problems sometimes, I think there was an article at either anandtech.com or tomshardware regarding windows xp 64bit you should read. As far as a boot screen, you could always get a bootscreen skin loader offline, usually they're free and you can load up any bootscreen apperance you want.

[DVNT1]

in particular, I understand there are not any Radeon drivers for the Windows XP 64bit beta/trial

[vass0922]

was just going to ask about the ATI card.

I know NVidia has 64bit drivers

The AMD is supposed to be backwards compatible but you may still encounter some issues .... there are ALWAYS issues with new stuff

[Bob The Great]

ok well try to find the article but it sounds like I'll just go with XP PRO. Thanks guys

[Starfury_2260]

uh dont you need pc3200 for the 64bit processors????

also dont you have to get 64bit drivers for everything?

[Bob The Great]

no you don't need 3200. For opterons or FXs or maybe both I believe you need dual channel ram.

As for drivers I ahve no idea thats why I was asking.

[HeadBand]

for opterons and fx you need registerd ecc but yes you will need pc3200 for the A64 because the memory needs to keep up with the cpu

[Bob The Great]

serious. Well sorry for misleading you starfurry I did not know that about the memory. Thats really funky, I had seriously not heard that before.

[Bob The Great]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...5e9513,00.html

does it just not run nicely with slower mem?