Microsoft Windows XP 32 Bit Vs 64 Bit

[Daffypuck]

Damn I hate these search engines on forums. Itried searching this before I posted and came up with a hundred results, but none that addresses my question. Anyways, I just finished with my new build and my buddy told me that all he had was 32 bit XP. I asked why did that matter. He said my new build was 64 bit.
My question is this, would I be defeating the purpose of the new build by settling for 32 bit XP, or is there not a signifigent enough difference for the average guy to notice? Im not savy enough to know what all this means, so just give me a good analogy. My buddy says its tough to really give an analogy to illustrate the differences. I will be usinig my new build for a lot of video rendering. Thanx!

[Hybrid]

You can run more than 3.5GB RAM with 64Bit, other than that it has little use right now. 64Bit drivers are also still buggy with some hardware. Some software also will not run on 64Bit. Personally I would stay with 32Bit, by the time 64Bit becomes standard there will probably be a new OS out, or even two.

[Daffypuck]

Thank you very much for your quick reply. I was wanting to know before I started customizing my new build. By looking at my computer room, one would think I'd know what I'm doin, what with all the crap and spare parts and stuff laying around. Truth be told, I don't. Plus, my new build is only 2gb of RAM also. Thanx again.

[torjancolin]

WinXP 64bit is run more quick than 32bit.

[Carbon]

WinXP x64 is terrible. Vista x64 is much better and the preferred solution if you have more than 2GB of RAM.

There's really not a lot of hardware incompatible with x64 save really old devices like parallel printers, and the only software that may not run is 16-bit (old) apps. It's worth it if you have that much RAM.

[LegendaryFire]

I think it depends on what you use your computer for... I have a 64bit Laptop and a 32bit Desktop, if you use your computer just for web browsing and just the basics I would go with 64bit if you like to play alot of video games and install a bunch of stuff onto your computer I would go with 32bit. One thing to watch out for in 64bit is the drivers, I have alot of devices that I can no longer run on my laptop because there are no 64bit drivers out.

[Fordy]

I think it depends on what you use your computer for... I have a 64bit Laptop and a 32bit Desktop, if you use your computer just for web browsing and just the basics I would go with 64bit if you like to play alot of video games and install a bunch of stuff onto your computer I would go with 32bit. One thing to watch out for in 64bit is the drivers, I have alot of devices that I can no longer run on my laptop because there are no 64bit drivers out.

Post if you have a clue what you're on about.

Where's the point in x64 if all you're gonna do is surf the web?!

Even though as Carbon says it's more stable now I'd still stick to x86 (32-bit) if thats all I was using the PC for.