Reply to: Bloody Aria Technology....

[AtW]

Seems to me that nothing really improved big time - it seems to make sense only if you have more CPUs than Windows XP Pro supports (think 2 max?)

The thing that MOST pissed me off on 2003 is that it would insist on asking me for reason when I was rebooting it or shutting down - ffs, if _I_ ask to reboot then dont ask me stupid questions just do the job ffs!

[mcquiggd]

Optimisation for services. Improved network performance with multiple connections.

You can really pare down Windows 2003... and then it really screams. It makes a pretty good workstation OS - that's what I was using prior to XP x64.

[AtW]

Use Windows 2003 Server x64... not XP x64...

What makes its so much better? Its still Windows NT, probably less lightweight than XP kernel - I only tried Server 2003 once and had impression it was heavier than necessary, IMO, no need in it unless you have more than 4 cores/cpus because XP is limited on that front.

[mcquiggd]

Mmm... I wonder if we could upgrade a dalek from the 286 it has for a brain...

[mcquiggd]

Use Windows 2003 Server x64... not XP x64...

[TwinGoldDaleks]

We have heard enough. Take this to technical or be ex-ter-min-at-ed.

[AtW]

Not too keen on Vista beta - it uses loads of memory and XP in my view does just fine, I know Vista will have better 64-bit support but I am not prepared to bother trying it just now, will put Win XP 64 on my next server and see how it goes.

[mcquiggd]

P.S... Alexei... here's your next PC....

[mcquiggd]

Vista x64 beta 2 is available .

Vista is another one of the reasons I went for a new workstation...

[AtW]

I think I will put 64-bit version onto my servers, and probably dual boot for dev PC - servers need basic driver support so it should fit the bill. Vista is supposed to be much better at memory management.

[mcquiggd]

That's the point Alexei... wasn't much point going above 2 gigs with XP...

Corsair DDR 2 is cost effective.


I have to say I think x64 is very stable. I have run it without a swap file and it behaves perfectly. And quickly.

The 64 bit XP PCs at work seem fine too. As you say, legacy drivers are the sticking point. In my situation everything such printer, scanner, etc, is run off the Domain Controller which is Windows 2003 Enterprise.

[AtW]

My company got Action pack that entitles to 10 OS licenses, plus one more dev license for small companies developing stuff using M$ tools.

I might give 64-bit windows a go, my stuff likes memory and memory management is bad on windows - bloody .NET thing tells me its out of memory when trying to allocate like 200-300 MB with 2 GB box (+ 2 GB swap) and at least 1.2 GB free, its gotto be fragmentation issue or just system cache uses more memory so big alloc fails, either way its totally pissing me off - I hope 64-bit version is a lot better in this respect, plus I can put into more RAM, its pretty cheap these days.

[mcquiggd]

You can get legitmate 4 month trial version from Microsofts website....

I went for a 4 gig workstation as the OS and software I am using / writing potentially addresses more than the 3 gig limit of 32 bit windows...

From the benchmark utility tests I performed even with a lowly Sempron (overclocked to 2.2Ghz, single core), it trounced the overclocked P4 (single core, running at 3.6Ghz)... both with DDR2 800Mhz memory, WD Raptor RAID.

[AtW]

Have you benchmarked memory intensive programs - you know that on 32bit system it is possible to get more RAM, but its achieved using bank switching in a way very close to how EMS used to operate in good old days of 640kb RAM PCs, 64-bitness is supposed to avoid cost of switching banks, so memory intensive stuff runs pretty quickly. I am actually tempted to try 64-bit Windoze since I have issue with heap fragmentation (or so I suspect).

[mcquiggd]

I really only play strategy games such the superb Total War series http://www.totalwar.com/ ... even the original Shogun:Total War plays on XP x64.... it's about 6 years old...

Ive found no problems with drivers, but anti virus software was a problem at first. AVG professional, NOD32, and others now work fine. I havent had a single crash. x86 applications (i.e. 32 bit) seem to be quite happy.

I was using a dual boot Windows 2003 Enterprise Server (set up to run as a workstation), and x64 - then I just went full x64 as it suits my needs.

The new setup with latest Nvidia chipset, GPUs etc all came with x64 drivers.