64bit xp ready for the show?

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Dr. X

Supreme [H]ardness
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I'm currently building a pc for my boss (who's also my dad) to replace his old piece. Here at the office (an architecture firm), we're running 32 bit xp on all our pcs with the server running win2k server. His new computer is a core i7, 6gb ram, etc., and I was thinking of putting xp64 on it. I was wondering if drivers were mature enough and everything was clicking along solidly. His computer has to be ABSOLUTELY stable and reliable, no quirks.

Also, I notice that newegg only carrier xp64 oem anymore, no more xp32 oem. Any reason for this?

Thanks for the help.
 
No reason to run XP anymore. Step up to Vista x64. It's rock solid.
 
64bit xp ready for the show?
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XP64 came out close to four years ago. It has for the most part been replaced by Vista x64, as any 64-bit capable PC is probably beefy enough to run Vista x64. Even MS's own XP64 site no longer has anything about XP64, it just forwards to the Vista x64 page.

So if you're asking about maturity, XP64 is at the "being put out to pasture" level of maturity. Driver support is not as weak as some people may think, though yeah oddball hardware isn't going to be 100% supported. XP64's driver base is widely inherited from it's Server 2003 underpinnings. Video card support is more likely than say, laptop webcam support.

While XP64 is awesome (I ran it for over a year with no issues), the 64-bit Windows desktop belongs to Vista.
 
xp64 was never really ready for prime time. more of a test OS imo.

As the others said, step up to vista 64, it is solid. All the crap vista got before is long gone.
 
Did they fix that sound issue where after the computer sat or suspended there would be no sound? That irritated me to no end and was my main reason for going back to xp after trying out vista 64.
 
Dr. X said:
Did they fix that sound issue where after the computer sat or suspended there would be no sound? That irritated me to no end and was my main reason for going back to xp after trying out vista 64.
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I'm aware of no such issue.

Must have been your soundcard drivers.
 
I am using XP64 to hold me over till windows 7 comes out. I am not going to buy vista just so I can replace it in a year. There are a few little issues and I have had to do a few hacks to get stuff to install, but it is pretty stable.
 
You can just install Vista x64. Disable theme service, disable sound, use classic interface. Low system resources and less things on lowers the chance for something to crash, though mine never crashes with default config.
 
Dr. X said:
No, it was a big issue for a lot of people. The fix they had did nothing and sp1 was supposed to fix it and didn't. It looks like there may be another fix now. I might have to give it a try on my home computer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937077
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If the fix issued from Microsoft did nothing, doesn't that tell you where the problem lies? On top of that, if this issue was really a deal killer for you, just disable hibernate. That's one of the first things I disable on all systems.
 
Its more like the show is over for XP64

Its not like its a bad OS, its just that Vista 64 is better and windows 7 x64 is a lot better.
 
DeaconFrost said:
If the fix issued from Microsoft did nothing, doesn't that tell you where the problem lies? On top of that, if this issue was really a deal killer for you, just disable hibernate. That's one of the first things I disable on all systems.
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I ran into that exact problem in Windows 7, but beta drivers for my sound card fixed the problem.
 
Bleh... the level of ignorance in this thread is downright frightening... :D

Since I've put XP Pro x64 (it's not called XP x64 folks, that's the Itanium version, it's called XP Pro x64, but I'm picky) away because of Windows 7's impending release, most people would expect me to jump on it and say "Windows 7" as I typically do nowadays (even my sig covers that). But as being STABLE is the OP's primary concern, I wouldn't recommend Vista x64 to be honest.

It's hard to say exactly what will work best in this particular situation. It might be a brand spankin' new PC with the latest and greatest on it, but as the "Boss" is most likely not used to change having worked with XP for so long (with a 2K Server, even) that the drastic change in the GUI with Vista and yes, UAC, when it rears up, will probably leave him with his finger on speed dial to the son every time something creeps in and pops up.

Having said that, I will recommend XP Pro x64 for this situation as it'll work, look, and act just like the XP Pro 32 bit he's been using for probably years and years now, so there won't be any "OS GUI shock" like what could happen with Vista. If the "Boss" has experience with Vista, even a little, I would simply sit down with him on a PC running Vista and show him some of the highlights and changes in the GUI and how things are done now - then leave him alone with it for 30 mins or so, let him use some of the applications on it and even install some stuff he's used to using with XP on the Vista machine for casual use and trials.

Then sit down and talk about it and see what he - meaning the "Boss" thinks might work better. If he's stiff and unwavering about XP, so be it, XP Pro x64 all the way and twice on Sunday.

If he's open to change and learning new things, Vista x64 (Business, I might add, not Ultimate, it's unnecessary in a working environment unless you have plans to implement BitLocker or some of the things Ultimate does aside from that) could be the OS for the new machine.

It's not a cut and dried answer, unfortunately. I will almost invariably always recommend XP Pro x64 over Vista x64 in a working environment, until Windows 7 Professional is RTM at which point that will be the OS at the top of my list for a long long time.

Hope this helps...
 
I'd go with Windows Vista, since he wants a stable system, and since Windows Vista is more secure than XP. For me, at least, Windows Vista is a lot more stable than Windows XP, and that is probably due to a lot of the driver model improvements that pull a lot of driver code out of the kernel mode and into the user mode. Initially, this is probably what caused Vista's stability issues, since drivers simply weren't ready for the new driver model, however, Vista has been out for quite a while now and drivers have matured and are now very stable.
 
Joe Average said:
It's not a cut and dried answer, unfortunately. I will almost invariably always recommend XP Pro x64 over Vista x64 in a working environment, until Windows 7 Professional is RTM at which point that will be the OS at the top of my list for a long long time.

Hope this helps...
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Good for you, I'll always recommend Vista 64 bussiness/home premium over XP Pro x64 anyday of the week, twice on wednesdays, and quad on weekends.

XP64 is a great OS and I used it for years since it became available, I loved it and never used a 32bit OS on my main PC since. I learned a lot from it.

Unfortunately it never had "its time". Driver support was, and still is a major issue. Yes its fast and rock steady, but Vista Business 64 is at least as stable as XP64 and with 4gb+ of ram almost as fast.

Now that win7 is coming, I just can't recommend XP64 over Vista64 if only because of the rumored cheap/free upgrade for vista users.
 
Vista x64 Business > XP Pro x64 (and yes I've used both).

It's all around better supported.

Unless you drank the kool-aid. In that case, Vista will rape your family and steal your identity. Oh and kick your dog.
 
Don't bother with 32-bit. Vista/Win 7 64-bit is the way to go.

XP anything is dead at this point too, and also not worth bothering with.
 
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