Introduction

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is changing the way jobs get done in a variety of industries. Read more about how the power of 64-bit Windows computing is making a difference. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition provides the power you need to get the job done. Read more about the advantages of using it or download a trial version and experience it for yourself.

If you're looking for large amounts of memory and improved floating-point performance for tasks that rely on real-number data, such as mechanical design and analysis, three-dimensional (3-D) animation, video editing and composition, and scientific and high-performance computing, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is designed for you. With its 64-bit processor, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition gives you access to greater amounts of memory while continuing to support 32-bit applications.
More memory, improved performance

The expanding data and performance needs of business, academic, engineering, and scientific organizations have pushed the limits and capabilities of existing information technology (IT) platforms. Millions of people worldwide need to access gigabytes or even terabytes of data in real time. The increasingly sophisticated demands for making home movies, working with digital photographs, using digital media, and playing 3-D games is also stretching the capabilities of existing 32-bit PCs.

Advances in processor technology that extend the capabilities of x86 architecture have brought the power of 64-bit computing to you. Now, you can use a 64-bit operating system to seamlessly run 32-bit and cutting-edge 64-bit applications. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition takes full advantage of this new architecture.

Comparing 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows

The major difference between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows is memory support. With more memory, you can run more programs at the same time, and run more memory-intensive programs like multimedia, gaming, and database programs. And your computer's performance will be faster overall.

Currently, 32-bit editions of Windows are capable of supporting up to 4 gigabytes (GB) of system memory, with up to 2 GB of dedicated memory per process. Windows Professional XP Edition x64 currently supports up to 128 GB of RAM, with the potential to support up to 16 terabytes of virtual memory as hardware capabilities and memory sizes improve.

Another difference between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows is the increased number of registers available on 64-bit processors. This enables faster performance for applications that perform intensive floating-point calculations.

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition provides faster performance, increased reliability, and greater flexibility to today's most demanding users. With Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, you can take advantage of the new 64-bit technology to improve your PC or workstation performance.

Top 10 benefits of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

1 Premier performance
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is a robust platform that offers premier performance that is unparalleled in the mainstream 32-bit desktop environment. Sixty-four-bit native applications can deliver more data more quickly, so memory-intensive applications can run more quickly and efficiently. Data in memory is accessed thousands of times faster than it is on a disk drive. Applications can preload substantially more data into virtual memory, allowing rapid access by the 64-bit processor.

2 Vast memory support
The key difference between 32-bit and 64-bit computing with Windows XP is that the 64-bit version can use more system memory. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition supports up to 128 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and 16 terabytes of virtual memory, so applications can run faster when working with large data sets. Physical memory support will grow in the future as hardware capabilities expand.
64-bit vs. 32-bit architecture
Address space 64-bit Windows 32-bit Windows

3 Optimized platform and improved collaboration
With Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, you can standardize your mainstream desktop computers with your high-end workstations, increasing performance, improving manageability, and freeing up IT resources. You can also improve information sharing and collaboration by using Microsoft productivity tools across your organization. Add Windows XP Professional x64 Edition systems to existing Windows-based networks and manage them alongside 32-bit systems with the same administrative tools that you already use, making life easier for your IT department.

4 Increased reliability and security for your most important data
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is built on the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) code-base, and provides optimum security and reliability for business-critical desktop computing. Now you can experience the stability and security of a server product on your PC. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition can help protect you from many types of viruses that try to exploit data. Its improved memory support helps protect your system against malicious attacks, such as memory buffer overruns.

5 Opportunity for innovation
Most 64-bit computers can manage exponentially more data than 32-bit systems can. With Windows XP Professional x64 Edition you can design, develop, and interact with new applications, games, and tools that weren’t possible with older technologies. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition provides solutions for current and future use. It delivers more memory combined with the ease of use of the established Windows platform.

6 Greater flexibility
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition gives you a robust platform for the integration of 64-bit and 32-bit applications using the Windows on Windows 64 (WOW64) x86 emulation layer. You can move to 64-bit computing while still maintaining your existing investment in 32-bit software and Windows expertise.

7 Multiprocessing and multicore processor support
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is designed to support up to two single or multicore x64 processors for maximum performance and scalability.

8 Advantages for specialized, technical applications
The performance of 64-bit computing offers advantages in fields such as automobile and airplane design by allowing engineers to create larger, more complex models. Engineers can use simulation software to analyze the effects of airflow, stress, and heat on the materials of a car or airplane, and then study the results to improve overall product design. Likewise, 64-bit computing benefits digital content creators, including three-dimensional (3-D) animators, digital artists, and game developers, who can significantly reduce the time they spend digitally rendering 3-D models. In the areas of scientific and high-performance computing, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition can aid in oil and gas exploration, seismic analysis, computational fluid dynamics, and scientific visualization, among other applications.

9 Single desktop for technical and business applications
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition provides a single PC for technical and business applications, so you don’t need to maintain one PC for business applications and a separate workstation for high-end technical applications. Most Windows-compatible 32-bit applications run "as is" in a subsystem of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, with performance comparable to 32-bit Windows. You can take advantage of rich integration capabilities and productivity tools on the Windows platform. Designers can build a model and easily share it with others in your company, copying it into a Microsoft Office Word document for the finance group or adding it to a Microsoft Office PowerPoint slide deck for the marketing team.

Note: If you use only 32-bit applications and work with data sets that are no larger than 2 GB, you will find that 32-bit Windows XP Professional offers sufficient power for your applications.

10 Familiar programming model
Developers with 32-bit computing skills will be comfortable and productive in the 64-bit Windows environment, finding the development environments virtually identical. The 64-bit Windows development environment supports the same feature set as 32-bit Windows, including user interface and programming models, networking, security, graphics, multimedia, directory service, Plug and Play, and tools features. Many of the functions have been modified to reflect the computational precision of the platform on which an application is run. The result is programming simplicity and a short learning curve for the developer—writing code for 64-bit Windows is just like writing code for 32-bit Windows.

Can you benefit from adopting Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is designed to meet the needs of people who use or design applications that demand the highest levels of memory access, performance, and scalability. If your professional work or hobbies fall into one of the following roles, you would likely benefit from the increased power and memory of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition:

• Application developers and hardware vendors: If you're a developer, you continually push yourself to produce the fastest, most cutting-edge applications to solve tomorrow's tough problems. Both consumers and business users are pushing the limitations of current 32-bit systems. By designing applications for a 64-bit system, you'll help your customers be more productive while using the applications you design. When you use the x86 instruction set within a standard Windows platform to develop applications on the next-generation 64-bit architecture, you'll be able to spend less time writing memory management code and more time differentiating your applications. Designing on 64-bit systems helps you to create new applications that will provide new revenue opportunities.

• Engineers: In many areas, such as automotive or aerospace design, a key factor to your success is your ability to conceptualize designs within stringent design-safety guidelines more quickly than your competitors. Designers and engineers who use computer-aided design and engineering applications will benefit from the large memory support, fast memory throughput, and improved floating-point speeds of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Instead of working in wireframes or piecing together sections of a large model, you can design and manipulate richly detailed representations in real time. With Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, you can take advantage of enhanced performance to design or manage data-intensive projects more effectively and quickly.

• Animators: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition turns your PC into a supercomputer, so you can create and render two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) projects many times faster than was possible before. Animators can benefit from the additional memory, increased memory I/O speeds, and improved floating-point performance.

• Game developers: If you're a game developer, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition lets you render models or scenes more quickly than 32-bit systems do. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition also allows you to work with fully rendered 3-D models, rather than with a smaller wireframe representation of the model. You can work at your peak level of creativity and view completely rendered models during the development of your projects.

• Gaming enthusiasts: Gamers routinely push the boundaries of 32-bit PC architecture, and video game developers are at work right now building exciting 64-bit native games to help push these limits even further. Since data in memory is accessed about 10,000 times faster than it is on a disk drive, 64-bit native games hold the potential for significantly faster graphics rendering, producing photo-realistic immersion and rapid-fire play without annoying delays. These improvements, along with other benefits of 64-bit architecture, should enable artificial intelligence and 3-D games that were not possible in the past.

• Video and photo editors: Professional and amateur photographers, video editors, Web designers, and home PC enthusiasts increasingly use PCs to do sophisticated video editing and photo manipulation. With Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and a variety of professional-caliber video-editing applications, amateur photographers can modify, enhance, and render captured video faster than ever—without the delays added by swapping data between the hard drive and memory. The large memory capability of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition gives you plenty of memory headroom to load and manipulate large video files without having to break a project into smaller pieces. As leading video-editing applications become available in 64-bit versions, home productions will attain new levels of professionalism; you'll be able to create longer productions with richer visuals and higher-impact special effects.

• Audio and music producers: With the massive addressable memory capacity of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition you can create, manipulate, and produce new music and audio experiences with unprecedented speed compared to 32-bit systems. The greatly expanded virtual memory capability not only handles much larger files, but also greatly reduces the time you spend waiting for audio files to finalize.

Important considerations
Because Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is relatively new and is based on fundamentally different technology architecture than the 32-bit version of Windows XP, you should consider several factors before adopting Windows XP Professional x64 Edition:

• Devices: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition requires 64-bit device drivers. This means that the manufacturers of the printers, keyboards, and devices you regularly plug into your PC must have device drivers that work with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Please check with your device manufacturer to verify the availability of 64-bit device drivers.

• Software: New applications—like the ones coming out for digital content, engineering, and gaming communities—are often built to run on 64-bit systems. You may already have 32-bit software that can run on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Widely used programs, such as Microsoft Office 2003 and Adobe Photoshop CS2, run on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. However, there are some known incompatibilities with 32-bit software. For example, because Windows XP Professional x64 Edition does not support 16-bit software, older programs may not run on it. In addition, software that includes kernel-mode drivers—such as antivirus packages and back-up applications—must be 64-bit native to run on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. It's a good idea to check with the company that makes your software to find out if it runs on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

• Migration: Whether you are moving to Windows XP Professional x64 Edition from a 32-bit operating system or simply experimenting with a trial version, it's important to note that migration requires you to “wipe and reload” your operating system. In other words, when you install Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, it will overwrite the preexisting operating system. You can save your files and settings and take advantage of the Windows Migration Wizard, and then reinstall your applications and devices once you are working with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Here's what you need to use Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Important
Important: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition cannot be successfully installed on x86 (32-bit) systems or 64-bit Intel Itanium–based systems. 32-bit device drivers are not supported on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

• Computer with a supported processor: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support, Intel Pentium 4 with Intel EM64T support

• 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended

• 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard-disk space (additional space may be required if installing over a network)

• CD-ROM or DVD drive

• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor

• Keyboard, Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or compatible pointing device

Additional items or services required to use certain Windows XP features

• 28.8-Kbps modem or fax modem and service provider required for Internet access (service provider may charge a fee)

• Sound requires a sound card and speakers (USB speakers require a computer with USB support) or headphones

• Remote Assistance requires that both parties be running Windows XP and be connected over a network

• Remote Desktop requires a computer running Windows 95 or later and the two computers must be connected over a network

• DVD video playback requires a DVD drive and DVD decoder card or DVD decoder software and 8 MB of video RAM

• Windows Movie Maker video capture feature requires an appropriate digital or analog video capture device and 400-MHz or faster processor for digital video camera capture