? about building a x64 bit system (did'nt see it in the guide)

[hairybusdriver]

I read the building your own system guide, but didn't find anything on the subject of 64 bt systems. I'm going to build my own system, and im ordering the parts soon, but what i wanted to know was, in order to build a 64 bit enabled system, don't i have to just use a 64 bit processor.

 

[Arcadion]

To run 64bit programs you need both a 64bit processor (e.g. Athlon64, Phenom, late model P4s with 64bit extensions, Core2) and a 64bit operating system (e.g. Windows XP Pro 64bit, Windows Vista 64bit, Ubuntu Linux 64bit, Solaris 10, OpenBSD 4.2 64bit, FreeBSD 7.0 64bit... there are dozens of them). It isn't really worth the trouble unless you need more than 4GB of RAM, as you run into some weird problems, e.g. if you use the 64bit version of Firefox, you can't install the Java runtime or Flash player as they only support 32bit browsers. There are ways around this, but it's a pain. Even though I have a 64bit processor (Core2 Duo), I run 32bit operating systems instead because it's less hassle. There is actually very little extra performance to be gained by moving to 64bit except for a few applications that are optimised for it. [email protected] seems to like it, if you're running a 64bit SSE3-optimised client, if that's your thing.

 

[crjdriver]

If you do intend to install X64 operating system, do check to see that ALL of your software and hardware will work with the os. I do use vista enterprise 64 however unless you are sure that ALL of your hardware has 64bit drivers available. Do this before you buy a windows 64bit os.

I like the 64bit os since it just seems faster and more responsive. I did have to give up an old 16bit calendar app I have used for at least 15 years since 64bit os do not support 16bit apps. They do run most 32bit apps.

 

[hairybusdriver]

Cool, since i already have a phenom, ill just upgrade to windows pro 64 bit. as for the wierd problems, ill just cope with them, figure them out. Thanks for the tips guys.