IL2 running under Win XP 32 or Win XP 64

[BigO]

S!~All

Not fully understanding the differences between setting my OS system up as a 32 bit or 64 bit system, I was hoping someone could let me know if there is any advantage to reformating (and reinstalling everything) my Win XP32 to WinXP64.

I do not believe I use any 64 bit programs, and my machine is primarily for running IL2:1946 and MS Office 2003

I have 4G of ram installed (and verified in the Bios), but only have use of 3G because of the WinXP32 RAM limitation.

If I go through the hassles of redoing my system with WinXp64, will my IL2 run any faster/better?

Any advice is appreciated

[Colslaw]

Neuro posted about this at the SoF forum and in short his system runs better as 32 bit than 64

[Smokin]

Well IL2 is an old game, so it would not surprise me that IL2 might run "better" on a 32 bit OS version VS a 64bit. I doubt you would see improvement in IL2, but I also doubt you would see any negative issues either.

Even so, I would recommend switching to a 64bit OS. Software nowadays are being designed to take full advantage of hyper threading and other features that a 64bit /multi core system has VS the older single core 32bit OS. While you may not see improvement for IL2 which was optimized to run on a 32bit system, you will prob see improvements in other newer programs like the OS itself, web browsers, and other utilities.

Inevitably, there is always going to be glitching and issues switching from a 32 bit OS to a 64 bit OS, or even from an older OS to a newer one. Programs might not work for one but does the other or performance differences are sometimes very noticeable. But what runs well/better/worse on what OS essentially boils down to trying it out and see. Typically older software is better with older OS and hardware, while newer software works better on newer hardware and OS.

To get the best of both worlds install BOTH! I personally have two hard drives, one with windows XP installed ,and another with Windows XP 64bit version. I can and do switch easily by rebooting the systems and picking which OS i want to use. I for the most part use windows 64bit for 90% of what I do, but I have an old Scanner that only works with XP and not the 64 bit version, and a some software I have also only works with XP32bit. If you don't have an extra hard drive to spare, use a partition, this creates a virtual new hard drives. It takes a single hard drive and divides it into however many partitions you need that act independently. So one physical hard drive can be a C: drive and D: drive with different OS systems installed.

If you want to do something advanced like what I do, I use a few partitions, one small 40gig partition for Windows XP, one 40gig partition for Windows XP64 bit version, and one much larger partition for all my main programs and games. This way if I ever had to format and reinstall my OS, I don't have to reinstall everything else with it like programs of games or everything else (some exceptions to that). Defraging and virus scans are ALOT quicker when and if I ever need to reformat it turns what would be a few days chore into a couple of hours for a complete reinstall.

Even if you dont want a different OS, i would still recommend installing a seperate backup OS on a partition just in case. Its so easy to trouble shoot a problem when you have 2 OS systems VS just one.

[Trouble4u]

I'm using Windows7 Ulitmate RC 64bit OP sys. With it I can run IL2 in a WinXP compatability mode and it works perfect. Basically anything I want to install which would by default go into C:\ program files goes into C:\ program files x86. the great thing about using a 64 bit OS is that you can use more memory. 32bit OS are limited to 3 gig of mem but with this OS I can use 24gigs! Currently I use 6 gig but I'm planning to up to 12 here pretty shortly.