Windows xp 64 bit
#Windows xp 64 bit drivers#
Naturally, drivers are more likely to be available for newer and more popular hardware: whether older devices will ever be supported under 64-bit Windows remains to be seen.Īntivirus software, browser plug-ins, games, 16-bit programsīecause of missing 64-bit support, active virus protection for email is currently only available with Avast Antivirus 4.5 and McAfee Enterprise 8.0i.
However, it may take several years for the level of driver support to reach that of 32-bit Windows today.
#Windows xp 64 bit install#
You cannot install 32-bit drivers under Windows XP Professional 圆4 Edition.įortunately, 64-bit drivers already exist for the most important hardware components - AMD's Web site lists the current 64-bit drivers for the Windows and Linux platforms. Although 32-bit applications run without problems under 64-bit Windows, appropriate 64-bit device drivers must be present. The motherboard hosts dual Gigabit LAN controllers from Nvidia and Marvell, and an appropriate driver must be installed for the Nvidia chip. The test system comprises an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Nforce4 motherboard, an Nvidia GeForce 6800GT PCI Express graphics card, a Seagate EIDE hard disk and a Matshita DVD-ROM. Fortunately the new Windows - in contrast to the 32-bit version - supports a lot of newer hardware without the need for special drivers to be installed. Release Candidate 1 of Windows XP Professional 圆4 Edition installed without problems on our test system, taking approximately half an hour.
#Windows xp 64 bit update#
Windows Update is now available with Release Candidate 1. However, 64-bit computing will only take off in the business market once 64-bit Windows is available, since most business users currently work with the Microsoft operating system. The open source Linux operating system has been available for some time for AMD's x86-64 platform. This then became the promise that: "as soon as an x86 64-bit Windows operating system is available, we will support it". Intel has been non-committal about this state of affairs, the official line for a long time being that "nobody needs 64 bits on the desktop right now". In contrast to Intel's Itanium, AMD's 64-bit architecture can handle 32-bit code very fast, which makes for a smooth transition to 64-bit computing. The route into the 64-bit world was accelerated thanks to AMD's AMD64 technology, which is used in the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX desktop processors and in the Opteron server chip. If no further problems emerge, Windows XP Professional x86 Edition could reach gold status by the time of the CeBIT show in March.
If previous experience with Microsoft operating system releases is replicated, Build 1289/RC1 will be followed by a further release candidate (RC2) and then the marketable ('gold') version. After repeated delays, Windows XP Professional 圆4 Edition is now due to ship in the first half of 2005. The server variant is also now available. Just before Christmas, Microsoft finally made Release Candidate 1 of Windows XP Professional 圆4 Edition available to testers.