Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (formerly Windows XP 64 Bit Edition for Extended Systems) is a version of Windows currently in beta for use on 64 Bit AMD64 and Intel EM64T systems. x64 Edition is designed for high performance computing in which large amounts of memory and floating point operations are used, at the same time retaining the ability to run 32 Bit applications at full speed. This would be of benefit in areas such as mechanical design and analysis, digital content creation and scientific tasks. I've not had a chance to use it myself yet, but the folks at gamepc.com have taken the latest public preview build (1218) for a test drive. It looks like things are starting to head in the right direction with an increasing level of feature parity between XP Pro 32 Bit and the x64 Edition, the thing which will continue to be a major issue until the x64 edition is released, and the reason many people I know do not run it yet is driver support, as all your existing 32 Bit device drivers are incompatible with a 64 Bit Operating System.
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=xp641218&page=1
To sign up for the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Customer Preview Program see
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit
System Requirements:
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Supported processors: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon including Intel EM64T, Intel Pentium 4 including Intel EM64T (Not present in P4 till Q4 2004) |
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256MB RAM |
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1.5GB available hard-disk space |
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Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution video card |
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CD-ROM or DVD drive |
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Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
When the OS is finished there won't be a retail box version, it will be available via OEM's with new machines, MSDN subscriptions, Microsoft Software assurance, System Builders and Distributors. This means that anyone who builds their own system should be able to buy an OEM version with another piece of hardware (such as a cable or motherboard). There may also be a form of trade in for existing 32 Bit XP Licenses but nothing set in stone. |