64-bit firepower

So you’ve got a beastly 64-bit box purring away, it’s time to take advantage of it. Both Intel’s and AMD’s offerings are backwards compatible, so you can run your usual 32-bit OS and 32-programs without any problems. But that’s no fun, is it?

To really show off the potential of 64-bit computing, you need a 64-bit OS and 64-bit applications. If this is the route you choose to go, be aware you’re pathing relatively uncharted waters. It’s not an easy ride, but it is a damn fun one. Lets take a look at the options.

Windows

After a long (though not Longhorn-esque) time in development, Microsoft have released their 64-bit desktop OS, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, to the world. With support for 64-bit applications and the performance benefits they should bring, and a 128GB RAM ceiling, XP x64 is looking good for the future, but what does this get you today?

Far Cry 1.32 on XP

Far Cry is one of the new breed of games supporting 64-bit mode for extra snaziness.

Frames per second 32-bit 114.34fps 64-bit 122.35fps

Hardware

XP x64’s new 64-bit kernel requires all new hardware drivers – existing 32-bit drivers simply won’t work. If you’ve got fairly typical hardware, the installation process should run quite smoothly. Microsoft have done a great job of bundling drivers for many common devices, including video, sound, and network cards. Serial ATA drivers still aren’t well represented out-of-the-box though, so you might have to hunt around for x64 SATA driver downloads before installing.

Users with older or more exotic hardware might be see this.

Once you’ve finished the install, if you find that you’ve got a piece of hardware without drivers, you may well be out of luck for the moment – while some manufacturers, like ATI and NVIDIA, already have quite functional x64 drivers, many others have only rough betas, if anything at all. As time goes on, more and more drivers will begin to appear, just as they did for Windows 2000 in the months after its release, but don’t be surprised if some older hardware never sees x64 drivers. NVIDIA have already phased out support for GeForce4 Ti cards in their latest x64 release.

Under the hood

The XP x64 desktop looks just like a regular XP desktop, save for the snazzy x64 logo in the background. All the usual XP utilities are there, most of them recompiled in 64-bit mode, so Solitare’s bouncing cards should be quicker than ever before (well, ok, not really). However many larger apps, like Media Player and Outlook Express, are still only 32-bit. Firing up the Task Manager reveals all, with 32-bit processes marked with a ‘*32’ on the end of their names.

One of the few large apps that has a 64-bit version is Internet Explorer. However, due to the complexities of mixing 64-bit and 32-bit code, 64-bit IE can’t run 32-bit browser plugins or ActiveX components – even Windows Update fails to work in it. If you do care for IE there’s a 32-bit version available as well, though a standard 32-bit Firefox install works like a champ too.

XP x64 in all its glory, with Task Manager revealing the 32-bit apps..

Software

XP x64 supports existing 32-bit apps though WOW64 (Windows on Windows64), an interface layer that lets 32-bit code (including a complete 32-bit set of standard Windows libraries) talk to the 64-bit kernel. There’s even an x86 CPU emulator in there for use on Itanium (IA-64) systems, though of course AMD64 CPUs can run the 32-bit code directly. WOW64’s compatibility is impressive, with most typical Windows apps installing without a fuss on XP x64.

Various types of low-level apps, such as virus scanners and GUI hacks like WindowBlinds, need to be AMD64-native to run on XP x64, though 64-bit versions of these are slowly starting to appear. However 64-bit versions of other applications are still relatively thin on the ground, but will all start to appear in due time.

Where do you want to go?

Windows XP Pro x64 is here today, and it manages a seamless transition from 32-bit to 64-bit with the right hardware. The future is here, so if you want to be on the cutting edge, this is one of the best places to start.