Is Windows 64 bit faster than XP pro?

[Omegachicken]

I've recently built a new gaming (mainly) comp, and have installed xp pro on it b/c some people i've talked to say xp pro non 64 bit is more reliable, but i've also heard that xp 64 is much faster. little help? :confused:

also... i was wondering if service pack 2 for xp does cause some compatibility issues, some games will randomly have critical errors (CSS, Farcry) now recently CSS and Farcry have not been crashing but they have been known to. Farcry will only work if i insert the cd, i cant already have the cd in from playing it earlier and just click on a shortcut.


thnx for the help

[Ominous Gamer]

64bit is faster, but only in theory. It requires a lot of up to date hardware and mature drivers to take advantage of all the architecture.

I'm still on Windows XP Pro.



P.S.:
http://static.flickr.com/6/6395645_c378c875ca_m.jpg
How about an avatar that doesn't advertise for another forum folding team;)

[therealwesty]

I used x64 Edition for a little while and found it worth while. Game performance in terms of the frames per second was nominally lower because when you are running a 32-bit application it is actually running in an emulated 32-bit environment. I found game loading times where noticable quicker all around when using x64 Edition, and video encoding was also a bit faster even when using 32-bit software. Overall the improvments out-weighed the (neglible) performance drop.

If I had gotten Bluetooth to work properly I likely would have stuck with the x64 Edition. Not being able to use my Bluetooth headset was too large of a sacrifice though.