View Full Version : Windows xp 64?
Hi guys, I was wondering if there would be any issue upgrading to xp 64 for my xbmc media center. The reason I'm thinking of it is to be able to use more than 4gigs of ram. (I also play video games so I think this could be useful.)
Any of you have experience with xp 64? Would you recommend the switch?
Thanks,
- Cas
I think that there are several users of the forum who use xp64/vista64, perhaps they could chime in. afiak, there are no issues.
However, we don't make win64 builds, so it'll be running in 32bit mode. If you're using this as a media center primarily, you likely won't see any improvements, and possibly the opposite.
If you're installing XBMC as an app on your desktop machine, why use the bastardized xp64 at all? (sorry, but I couldn't go the whole post without bashing)
TheUni
If you're installing XBMC as an app on your desktop machine, why use the bastardized xp64 at all? (sorry, but I couldn't go the whole post without bashing)
Ahah, no worries. The main reason was to bypass the xp32 ram limitation.
Why do u say that it may run slower though? I'm curious.
- Cas
althekiller
2009-04-24, 21:30
XP 32bit doesn't support the x86 PAE extension (Physical Address Extension extension ;))?
I ran XP x64 SP2 for quite some time and the OS never caused any problems with XBMC.
My HTPC is now 32 bit but my XBMC test box is still X64.
Take time to get all the drivers installed and you will be fine
Actually, based on what you said, you're better off with a 32bit OS. Any 32bit app on ANY flavor of Windows will only get 2GB of private address space (3GB with a boot.ini or BCD edit). Not only that, but a 32bit app will actually use more memory in x64 than it would in x86 because all the pointers (among other things) take 64bits of memory instead of 32bits. When all is said and done, you'll probably get more usable memory out a 4GB system running 32bit than 64bit Windows, even though you'll only be able to address about 3GB total in 32bit.
On top of that, XP x64 has pretty awful support from device manufacturers. It's not really even XP, it's basically Server 03 x64 with some services disabled and some consumer oriented stuff like the Luna theme and Windows Media Player. You'll have a much harder time finding drivers for certain components in XP x64 than in Vista or 7 x64 because MS now requires vendors to submit 64bit drivers for WHQL certification.
I'm not trying to badmouth x64, I ran Vista x64 on my main box for 2 years, and I'm now running the 7 beta in x64 and both worked absolutely fine with XBMC. I run 64bit personally because I have 8GB of RAM for VMWare purposes. My HTPC is running XP x86, and I'll probably upgrade to 7 x86 when it goes final.