Windows XP 32 bit or 64 bit for early 2000's gaming?

[Evelynn]

Hi everyone! I ordered a rather inexpensive HP 8710W laptop. It has full XP support (which is why I purchased it).
I intend on using it for games made around the early 2000's era (NFS Underground, Alien vs Predator, Sims 2).

Would 32 bit XP be the most compatible? Or will 64 bit work just as well with games made around that era? The laptop has 4GB of RAM / C2D / Quadro FX 1600M. It likely will never be connected to the internet, except to shortly see what it's like to browse the net with XP for amusement purposes.

 

[natr0n]

XP32 is most compatible
xp64 can work but most things run slower actually on it.

Some nfs series wont work on 64.

 

[Frick]

32 bit for sure.

 

[Solaris17]

32 bit for sure.

This 64 bit was an adventure lolol

 

[Onasi]

32-bit, no discussion. XP64 was in essence an experiment. It wasn’t a great running or the most stable OS then and time did not improve it. Besides, nothing that you would run on such a retro box would require any 64-bit features anyway.

 

[SL2]

Don't forget that you'll need SATA drivers integrated on the XP ISO.

Does it have an SSD? Otherwise, it's the first thing to get.

 

[Bill_Bright]

64-bit wasn't mature back in XP days. So for sure, to ensure the best compatibility, I would go with 32-bit.

HOWEVER, if you have both, I say, try 64-bit and see how it goes. "In theory", 64-bit "should" give the OS a little more wiggle room (RAM space) to operate in and that (again, "in theory") "should" give you a little (although maybe not noticeable) performance boost.

Then come back and tell us how it went.

 

[erpguy53]

definitely use XP 32bit which is based on NT 5.1 kernel and is the most common version
there were two variations of 64bit WinXP (XP for 64bit Intel Itanium IA64 systems & XP professional x64 edition)
the XP Itanium version did have a later 2003 release which was based on the Server 2003 NT 5.2 kernel instead of the original NT 5.1 kernel; original XP Itanium edition was based on original NT 5.1 kernel and the XP x64 edition for x64 cpus was based on the Server 2003 NT 5.2 kernel

 

[JohH]

no one used 64bit xp. that was a niche product unlike the 32 bit version
should give you the answer

 

[Evelynn]

Thanks for all the replies! 32-bit it is.

Does it have an SSD? Otherwise, it's the first thing to get.

Don't forget that you'll need SATA drivers integrated on the XP ISO.

I sourced an SSD from my secondary rig that wasn't being used. I (think) you have to disable things like TRIM within the OS, right? I've heard XP isn't SSD friendly.

About to start installing it! Hopefully everything goes smoothly. I'm using WinXP 32-bit Integral with the Intel SATA drivers slipstreamed in.

 

[natr0n]

Thanks for all the replies! 32-bit it is.



I sourced an SSD from my secondary rig that wasn't being used. I (think) you have to disable things like TRIM within the OS, right? I've heard XP isn't SSD friendly.

About to start installing it! Hopefully everything goes smoothly. I'm using WinXP 32-bit Integral with the Intel SATA drivers slipstreamed in.

A new integral xp was released today/a day ago actually

 

[SL2]

I sourced an SSD from my secondary rig that wasn't being used. I (think) you have to disable things like TRIM within the OS, right?

I don't remember, sorry.

A new integral xp was released today/a day ago actually

Where is this? I haven't touched XP since I had an HP Elitebook from 2015 (Broadwell), it actually came with ISO's and drivers for XP, 7 & 8.1!

 

[Wirko]

I sourced an SSD from my secondary rig that wasn't being used. I (think) you have to disable things like TRIM within the OS, right? I've heard XP isn't SSD friendly.

You need to disable automatic defragmentation if XP does that. I think it doesn't but I'm not sure. Too lazy to fire up my E6400 box now, and the mobo sometimes won't turn on.

As for TRIM, there's nothing to disable in XP. On the contrary, you have to occassionally run TRIM manually, using the utility provided by the SSD manufacturer. Intel SSD Toolbox, for example.

And there's one more reason to avoid XP64. Core 2 was an early 64-bit processor, and one of its deficiencies was low performance with 64-bit code. You can probably still find some article about that at Anandtech etc. if you're interested. Besides, what's the maximum RAM amount for your laptop? Anything above 2x2GB is out of spec (but might work).

 

[QuietBob]

It likely will never be connected to the internet, except to shortly see what it's like to browse the net with XP for amusement purposes.

Reporting in with Firefox 52.9.0 ESR, the last version with official XP support.

TPU can be accessed without a problem. Some websites do not display their full content, or have broken functionality, but can still be navigated. Some sites only show an "unsupported browser" message. YouTube @ 1080p works very well

There are a number of unofficial browsers for XP which supposedly fix the issues.

Posting this from my XP rig -- an oc'd Phenom II X4 with an AGP HD3850 and an SSD