http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/e...on/upgrade.mspx Has anyone tryed this upgrade?

Hi JimIt is a bit difficult to tell from this page what version they are refering to. If it is release 1289 then I do have it installed together with the latest chipset and Radeon 64 bit drivers. My Logitech Wingman 3d and CH pedals work okay but FS9 is not installed on it yet, mainly because the ATI Catalyst Control Centre does not work perfectly. (You also need the beta of 64 bit Netframework for the 32 bit Catalyst Control Centre to work. Confusing!I did have FS9 installed with the previous beta (v1218 from memory) and FS was as good if not better tha with 32 bit xp. The PMDG 737 also ran well together with Active Sky.

Given it a try, was not able to get any sound drivers or drivers for my Saitek Cyborg 3D force, I tried running GTA Vice City and it ran well, same as on 32BIT windows, FS was installed, but had a hard time using mostly because of no joystick. It does look promising for when it it will be done, as long as all 32BIT applications will run fine.

Jim wrote:>>It is a bit difficult to tell from this page what version they are refering to. If it is release 1289 then I do have it installed together with the latest chipset and Radeon 64 bit drivers. My Logitech Wingman 3d and CH pedals work okay but FS9 is not installed on it yet, mainly because the ATI Catalyst Control Centre does not work perfectly. (You also need the beta of 64 bit Netframework for the 32 bit Catalyst Control Centre to work. Confusing!<< Now I get it!! I had it running fairly well but then I mucked it up. I.e. SmartGart wasn't available... Maybe that was due to the missing dotNet bit? I'll remember that! I also have 'ancient' gameport equipment, another thing XP64 doesn't seem to like. I had to hook up the MS FFB2 which worked flawlessly. But not having pedals was a bummer...Edit: I found the dotNet v.2 beta here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/dow...es/default.aspxSelect the 7th file alias 'NetFx64.exe' (40MB download) Kurt wrote: >>Given it a try, was not able to get any sound drivers...<< Creative actually supplies a pretty good set of Audigy2 drivers IMHO. Btw, the onboard sound driver was one of the funniest computing expereinces I've recently had; FS at normal speed and the sound at half-speed..! ATC a perfect assembly of baritons!! Hehe Nevertheless, perhaps check this link for Audigy xp64 drivers: http://preview.creativelabs.comHere's another link to an interesting AMD64 homepage: http://www.planetamd64.com/viewforum.php?f=2Otherwise viaarena.com and nforcershq.com are pretty useful too. My first impressions: Wow!! FS looks very good and pretty quick (when it works!). I ran xp64(1289) on an Abit/Via board. This weekend I intend to try it on a nForce3 combo too (provided I get around to finishing it!!). Fyi, a non-public 1433 release (RC2) was submitted to subscribers a few days ago and that apparently is a good signal, things are being wrapped up quickly now. If all goes well RTM should be in April or May. Hope this helps and the links work... Good luck and kind regards Jaap The rig: Abit KV8-pro v.1.0 (s754); 3200 Clawhammer; 9800pro; Audigy2; 2GB RAM; etc, etc

Thank you very much for the links! Now I can have some sound again. I was able to find 64BIT beta drivers for most things, most manufacturer sites are being pretty good about having some for us to use. I never even bothered to use onboard audio, not enough horsepower ;-)

Thank's for the reply's! I think I will wait on this. Has It improved CF9 performance?

You're welcome fellas. Performance, hmmmm..? I mucked it up pretty fast so it's probably not fair to really want to judge. Nevertheless, despite not tweaking anything (incl. FS), an improperly installed Ati display adapter driver and only a couple of brief tests, I found xp64 quite amazing. Textures load very quick and the whole system is very responsive. Compared to previous NT-OSs, I'ld say performance is steadier. All in all, I guess this will be the first NT-OS I'll use from day 1 of release. Fyi and afaik, the 1433/RC2 signifies, that hardware manufacturers will now cease making beta drivers and be able to start doing the real job incl. WHQL certification. AIM, I found the Creative driver very good. Also Nvidia's display adpater drivers were up to the task (tested with my old GF4-4800). Via's mainboard drivers seem to be fine too. Minus their peculiar sound driver! Well, maybe I should have used Realtek's? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to install xp64 on the nForce3 system yet. I'll do so ASAP and then report back. Thanks for your efforts too and I deerly hope we can soon exchange heeps of positive experiences here. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

One thing I notice about FS9 with x64 XP is the speed at stuff loads, normally with my system to load at JFK with 100% AI, thanks to Project AI, takes around 15 seconds, well with x64 XP I am loading in about 5 seconds and the textures are always displayed, like you know how sometimes if you fly for a while and then change a view it takes a few seconds to reload the textures, I have not had this happen once, even on very high quality 32BIT textures, certainly looks very promising as of right now.

xp64-beta RC2 now also available for public download: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/e...on/upgrade.mspxKind regards Jaap

Is there someway I can upgrade it without having to download a new image and reinstall everything? Everytime I have tried to use the windows update site, I never have luck, tries to send me to old one, then I got an error and its just a nightmare!!! And the other thing I find annoying, is that the site doesnt say anything about it being RC2 of x64 XP.

Download an upgrade only? Not that I know of. I totally agree that the upgrade page isn't very transparent about builds etc., but nevertheless, it is build 1433. I usually wait a few days as that part of the MS site gets hammered after such announcements and therefore only downloaded it today (flawlessly). Maybe that was the reason for your probs? There's a rumour, that XP64 will be released in April... Kind regards Jaap PS: New Radeon Beta (dated 02.09.05) here: http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/winxp/r...x=13&submit.y=7

XP64 is expected in April, that is assuming of course no problems come up or anything, but as we know, all too well from Microsoft, delays do happen.

Hehe, we'll indeed see whether the rumour turns out to be true or not... Seen the speed things are moving forward right now, it could be feasible. Anyway, I hope you managed to download 1433 in the meantime. Btw, the latest Ati driver didn't fix my inabiltiy to use the SmartGart tab and dotNet isn't the solution. The message 'You need to re-install the driver' continues to pop up. Kind regards Jaap

The previous link to PlanetAMD64 is dead, try this one instead (hey, poetry!): http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=idxOtherwise, hardly any changes on the driver front. Only Nvidia have updated their beta display drivers recently. Kind regards Jaap

That's about all I have noticed as well, but I bet within the next few months we will see lots of new drivers come out.