"The trouble is though, Windows XP x64 Edition does not play nicely with much
32-bit software, and requires new drivers for all your existing hardware, which
may not yet (or ever) be available. You may want to move to the 64-bit OS to
take advantage of your shiny new
processor's capabilities, but what happens if half your games don't work and
the other half run slower due to driver issues? The major videocard companies
are admittedly close to perfecting their 64-bit drivers, but 'close' could mean
anywhere from 3 months to a year before they are at the same level of
performance as their 32-bit siblings.
To most people, the logical answer is to install Windows XP x64 Edition while
still keeping XP 32-bit intact on the system. This allows you to mix and match
the two operating systems, avoiding software failure and discovering which is
best for each application and game. While this is a bit of a drain on hard drive
space, it's more than worth it in terms of frustration avoided. It's also easy
to do, and in this short guide, PCSTATS is going to show you how to go about
creating your 64-bit/32-bit XP dual installation."
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