Experience with Win64

I agree with most of your comments.

bmoag

unfortunately, has not been written about what WinXP64 can and cannot do. generation 32 bit drivers then Win64 is a no go unless you like vanilla VGA drivers.

I have a MSI 8KMM-ILSR, (via chipset), with on-board s3 graphics. The via web site has a driver which works well.

motherboard better have a recent NVidia chipset or Win64 is a no go. You also must obtain the chipset drivers from Nvida as they are not on the Win64 install disc.

viaarena has drivers for the graphics as well as sound. They were not on the CD that came with the MSI board, but the MSI site now has them.

"community" newsgroups (anyone interested in Win64 should read through those postings) cite problems with more complex network environments. available that works stably is from AVG. Norton and Mcaffee are total no go. Avast does not work although advertised as such.

I am running Avast with no problems.

with Win64 and this is a big problem. Roxio 8 is marketed as compatible with Win64 but totally crashes most systems and can wreck your Win64 installation. Nero 6 will work on some systems but only if packet writing (InCD) is not installed. The latter can totally destroy a Win64 installation a la Roxio 8. Packet writing and Win64 are a total no go.

I agree, CD packet writing is a no-go! I'm running Nero in WinXP32. The CD limits file size, so no need for 64bit.

is also the case for several popular multimedia applications, including WinAmp. Itunes may or may not install and work properly. The free Real program installs and works well for simple tasks. office, there can be incompatibility and installation problems but in general these will install and work. Of course if all you use are office productivity apps why bother with Win64?

WoW, (Windows on Windows), which is a part of x64, works well on most 32 bit programs.

under 32 bit WinXP (this is the reason I tried Win64, which otherwise a bit of an exercise in masochism). Of course if you have already installed your copy of CS2 before you may have to get papal dispensation from Adobe, and a new authorization code, to install CS2 in your Win64 system. calibrating devices, which requires a work around in which you manually install monitor and paper profiles generated under Win32. While this more or less works, presuming that ATI and NVidia 64 bit drivers have the same characteristics as their 32 bit counterparts, this means that Win64 is really not suitable for critical use with Photoshop anyway even it is faster. models I own.

Brother has drivers for their printers and multi-function machines. HP says they're working on them.

is really not ready for prime time use. I hate to say it but Win64 so far is like the OS2 of its day--a great idea but it just does not work.

The real advantage of a 64bit OS, is the ability to address more memory. Unfortunately most mother boards do not allow for the installation of the required physical memory modules. This will change.

The best bet is to keep Win32, (XP or 2000), and dual boot with x64. Either OS can use files created by the other.

We'll see what happens when the 64bit version of Vista arrives!

-- Virg Wall