Windows XP 64-bit

Well I decided to install Windows XP 32-bit because:
1. SP3 isn't available for x64 Windows XP
2. Civilization 4 doesn't run well on x64. (at least it wasn't for me).
3. Its harder to find drivers for x64.

So you, against every reason you listed for wanting it in the first place, decided to not use it anyways.
 
1. That's because it's a different operating system, it's based on Windows Server 2003, not XP, so follows the same service pack schedule as WS 2k3.

2. Not a problem in Vista/7 64-bit.

3. Not a problem in Vista/7 64-bit.

Yeah, numbers 2 and 3 weren't issues for me in Vista and Seven when I had them, only in XP.
 
So you, against every reason you listed for wanting it in the first place, decided to not use it anyways.

Well I tried XP x64, and it wasn't what I thought it would be. The only reason I wanted x64 was so I could use all my 6GB of RAM. But because I found that XP x64 from expierence, I decided to switch to XP x86.
 
Don't even waste your time with XP x64. It never had strong support to begin with, and has been all but ignored since Vista's release. If you really want to transition to a Win64 environment, just wait another month for Win7 x64.
 
Better yet, if you're a student and have an edu email, you can get Win 7 x64 right now for 30$. As in, the final release.
 
Well I decided to install Windows XP 32-bit because:
1. SP3 isn't available for x64 Windows XP
this is correct but this the newest sp2 for x64 IS NOT the same as the x32. here x64 sp2 = x32 sp3. i thought the same thing too until i was corrected. so if you are sp2 you are updated.
2. Civilization 4 doesn't run well on x64. (at least it wasn't for me).
3. Its harder to find drivers for x64.

i haven't had trouble running everything except fallout 3 on my rig.
and you are right about the drivers.

i still dont know why i keep using it, but every time i choose my OS i pick x64. you know what i do if my OS doesnt work for something: VIRTUALIZATION MY PEOPLES

try running vmware virtual PC on x64 with 32 bit inside
 
Well I decided to install Windows XP 32-bit because:
1. SP3 isn't available for x64 Windows XP
2. Civilization 4 doesn't run well on x64. (at least it wasn't for me).
3. Its harder to find drivers for x64.

Yup, SP2 is the latest for XP x64. I can't say much about Civ4 - I lost one of my install CD's, so I haven't played it for half a year. As for drivers, you're right, it's more difficult. Although if you're decently mainstream you can usually find what you need at least for core hardware (not so sure about peripherals).

really? thats a great deal! but what kind of student email, can it be high school, or is it exclusively college?

Generally the restriction is to students with .edu email addresses. So that tends to mean exclusively college/university.

I've been using XP x64 as my primary OS for a bit more than a month (with XP x86 Home as the dual-boot). What I've found:

Pros: Can use more memory, can run 64-bit programs.

Cons: Can't use Hibernate with more than 4 GB of RAM, some drivers aren't as good, some games cause Blue Screens of Death (looking at Call of Duty 4, at least with nVIDIA graphics) fairly often.

If you don't use the memory, it's kind of moot point. The 64-bit program benefit doesn't count for much, as the few programs that are available often aren't the sort that actually need the performance boost (say, Firefox 3.0.10 64-bit - the 32-bit version performs perfectly fine). And as a mobile user, I limit XP x64 to 4 GB anyway so I can use Hibernate.

So if I were to do it over, I'd probably go with XP x86. Better drivers (network + video in my case), better stability (gotta love nVIDIA drivers causing BSODs), and no real loss. But XP x64 is reasonably close to as good as XP x86, such that it's not worth the effort to switch back, and it's still much better than Vista/7 x86 or x64 for me thanks to better compatibility.

Btw, any "Black Edition" of Windows is pirated and illegitimate. AMD Phenom II's may well be Black Edition, but if you're talking about Windows, steer clear of those.

As for the XP x64 trial, it is still available, but hard to access. That's how I first tried XP x64, and liked it well enough (not then noticing the problems I since have) to join ACM/MSDNAA and go with the full version. If someone wants to try it, I can dig it up.
 
Technically it is, but, it would cost about 9000USD for 32 8GB modules.
 
I've been running Win 7 since...May? The only problems I had were with a bad nVidia driver, but technically that one wasnt WHQL, so its my fault really.
 
Havent tried. I keep VM's of multiple OS' around though. Mainly they're used by my dad for testing, but I sometimes use them to play stuff that doesnt work.
 
Honestly, unless its a work machine, spending that much money on RAM is pretty stupid. I can see the use of something like 32GB, but much more than that gets prohibitively expensive.

(For an individual)
 
@Genocidicbunny, What does Ram beyond 32GB get you?
@Xartharz, did you buy those or are they work Machines
 
@Genocidicbunny, What does Ram beyond 32GB get you?
There are some specific applications where you may be able to use more than 32GB of RAM. If you have a database thats, lets say 50GB, and you have 64GB of RAM, you can keep the entire db in memory, greatly increasing its speed. Its possible that some content creation may use up to and more than that, but that would be production on a commercial level -- think Pixar.

Other than that, I dont see too many applications of it. Even if you run a lot of VM's, and give each one 2 GB, you can still run 15 VM's ( 2GB to host OS) which is quite a few.

tl:dr -- for a home user, there is pretty much no benefit. As of now, even 16GB is quite a bit, although Im pretty sure I can find a use for that much.

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EDIT -- oh, forgot the most important. A bigger e-penis.
 
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