64 bit hardware compatibility?

[SlowCoder]

I will be purchasing the ASUS P5B Deluxe ( Newegg.com - ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail ). I would like to know if it is compatible with Windows XP 64-bit?

 

[Willz]

Its not the motherboard, its the CPU, most CPU's (Core 2 Duo, Athlon 64) have 64-bit these days.

Why are you wanting to use XP 64bit? less driver and application compatability for it, just use 32-bit, will save you problems if you find some apps dont work when using 64bit.

 

[SlowCoder]

Willz,

Thank you for your response. I do believe you are correct, but I want to be sure before spending money.

Can anyone else corroborate this?

Thanks.

 

[Addis]

64 bit extensions are a feature of the CPU, and allow you to use more than 4GB of RAM as well as running 64 bit software, which should theoretically give you a slight performance increase.

 

[SlowCoder]

Ok, so what are the benefits of 64 bit processors? I hear you about the RAM limits. But what else do they provide that 32 bit processors do not?

 

[Big B]

The RAM is part of the entire wider range of addressable sections in computing in general. Along with clock speeds, increasing the bit width is another way to improve performance.