Hi Dean,
Several people have given answers, here is my input. I am fortunate at work
to be able to work with some of the latest hardware. The latest machine we
have is a Tyan Thunder MB (2895) with dual Opteron model 252's. (2.6Ghz
internal clock). Because I have a working relationship with AMD, I will
probably get to try out some of the dual core CPU's soon as well. I also
have an MSDN subscription through my compnay that allows me to obtain and
try out the latest stuff, like XP64. I have one of these dual Opteron system
currently running XP64. While there is some limits to available SW, there
still are 64 bit versions available, enough to fully support this system,
and a Dell Precision 470 (with an Intel Xeon em64t CPU, their 64 bit
compatible CPU). I was able to find drivers for both systems, hardware in
these systems comes from Intel & AMD (chipsets), Nvidia (Graphics adapters),
even the sound card.
While an application natively compiled for 64bit CPU's is required to take
full advantage of the new features, 32 bit applications run fine under the
WOW64 environment (this is basically what is called a "thunking" layer that
translates the OS calls an applications makes in a 32bit address space into
the 64bit calls present in the OS. It basically translates the 32bit pointer
into 64bit equivalents.) All of this is automatic, Windows XP64 detects 32
bit applications and runs them properly. Note that device drivers MUST be
compiled for 64bit, 32bit drivers will not load on 64bit Windows.
As noted, some things that try and interface closer to the OS will have
problems, like AV programs. At work, we have McAfee Corporate 8.0i, which is
64bit compatible.
A native 64bit application may run faster, depending on what it is doing. If
it moves a lot of data, and can do so in 64 bit chunks (or multiples), then
it can be a big win. If not, then there is probably not much performance
gain. One big win, especially for large applications, is the increase in
addressing space. Gone is the 2GByte per-process address space limitation
that exists in 32bit Windows. In fact, and this is where the application
that I help develop for my company can benefit, 32bit applications get a
benefit because the per-process address space in a 32bit application running
in the WOW64 environment is 4GBytes. I believe this is often overlooked as a
significant benefit. Indeed one sticking spot with releasing 64bit Windows
for my companies application is because we have one prominent vendor (at
least in the test and measurement industry) that so far refuses to support
64bit versions of the driver for their hardware, and we need that support to
able to release 64bit versions support for our product.
Russ Poffenberger
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-----Original Message-----
From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dean Kukral
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 9:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCBUILD] 64 Bit Computing
I am considering upgrading my system to an AMD FX-57 or FX-60.
These are 64 bit processors that require the 64 bit edition of Windows.
I read in a "user review" of the 57 at Newegg that neither NAV nor McAffee
support this version of Windows.
Is this true, and if they do not, are there good 64 bit anti-virus programs
available that anyone here has some experience with?
Also, do most higher level programs run seamlessly on the 64 bit processors?
I assume that the anti-virus programs work at a somewhat more basic level
than most games, for example.
TIA
Dean Kukral
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