XP okay withnew harware?

[crazyox]

First, I wish to know if Xp is compatible with new 64 bit processors and if using XP will dramatically limit the advantage of upgrading to a new motherboard and cpu. I really don't want to get into a new operating system ie. Vista and I haven't heard much about Xp 64bit edition so I assume it was DOA.

I also wish to know what is this deal about 4 Gig memory limit with XP and if it means must be less than 4 or can be exactly 4. I heard that from 3 to 4 gives no advantage. Thanks in advance.

 

[Daveskater]

First, I wish to know if Xp is compatible with new 64 bit processors
You can run a 32 bit version of XP fine with a 64 bit cpu

...I haven't heard much about Xp 64bit edition so I assume it was DOA.
You can get Windows XP Pro x64 and a few of our users have it.

I also wish to know what is this deal about 4 Gig memory limit with XP and if it means must be less than 4 or can be exactly 4. I heard that from 3 to 4 gives no advantage.
A 32 bit OS can only recognize up to 4gb of memory, which has to include system ram and graphics ram among other things

This is a limitation of 32-bit operating systems. Without a special boot option, Windows allows userland programs to use only up to 2GB of RAM, rest is for kernel use only. Since you can address only 4GB of memory with 32 bits, some of your RAM is masked by other system resources like video memory that has to be accessed too and will take out a chunk of the address space,making some of your RAM unusable.

If you want to make full use of your RAM, you have to install a 64-bit OS.

 

[Nodsu]

As of today, all PCs are almost completely backwards compatible. You can run DOS on the latest and greatest quad-core machines! 32-bit XP will run just fine.

Yes, the usable RAM will be limited. You would have to get a 64-bit OS or use Windows 2000 or 2003 Server to make good use of more than ~2-3 GB of RAM.