Maximum PC

I've looked at the numbers for video editing using a dual opteron system and have only seen about a 25% to 30% improvement for the speed of editing. I want to be able to convert .avi files to .wmv files using Windows Media Encoder.

Is the speed improvement any better with the 64 bit edition of XP, or do we have to wait for the "64 bit version" of windows media encoder to even test it? (XP 64 bit edition is a free beta right now, you can download a 365 day license).

When and if I upgrade, I want to go with a dual proc system.

It would be nice if the AMD 64 bit processors simply went into a "virtual" dual proc 32bit mode instead of letting that extra bandwidth just sit there unused if you are not running a 64 bit operating system or if you don't have 64 bit compiled programs.

That would mean if I didn't want to purchase a new software library of 64bit compile programs, I could run all of my 32bit programs in a "virtual quad processor mode" when using a dual proc 64 bit system. Is this even possible?.

If I'm an IT manager for a company, and I can go to the CEO and say, if I replace all your computers, we can run all our current 32 bit applications as though they were running on quad four servers, by upgrading to Windows XP 64bit edition on dual opteron AMD systems.

This makes a lot more sense (and would probably speed up the introduction of the next Windows operating system) then spending money on a brand new system to run 32bit software that will run on a quad processor system, yet not be able to take advantage of the new 64bit archictecture.

For example I have Windows Media Encoder that runs on my computer, a 32 bit operating system. Windows Media Encoder will also run on a 64 bit operating system in 32 bit mode, but not 64 bit mode. Is this going to be a marketing nightmare for software developers, should they make this more transparent to the user? If I'm an IT manager, the CEO is going to say, fine, wait until they iron it out, then we'll upgrade?

In the past when I wanted to upgrade, I watched systems double and sometimes triple in speed while I used an outdated system. I'm not seeing that yet. I'm also not going to rush out to buy 64bit versions of the software that I own today. More than likely it will simply phase itself (64 bit computing) in gradually, say about ten years from now?

If I was building a 64bit operating system, I would try to find a way to make 32bit mode software run in 64bit mode without requiring the software developer to recompile everything. Some software out there are from companies that no longer exist, so recompiling the application is probably impossible as well.

And I'm sure some body out there (probably Bill Gates) is looking at ways to deliver 128 bit computing to us. Then 256 bit. Then, well, you get the idea. Unless this process is streamlined a little bit, we are going to see some interesting marketing plots (or nightmares).

Actually windows x64 is being designed with the mindset of a need for improved performance with digital content creation, floating point, and anything that addresses large amounts of memory. So yes, you will see performance gains. I don't think they will be shocking though, or atleast not yet anyways.



64 bit programs will just get faster and better as we learn to write cleaner and better code. Plus, with 64 bits to address instead of 32, you will see a great performance gain. I am not saying 64 will stick around forever, eventually it (may) be phased out to 128 bit or 256 bit computing or something else entirely. I can't really give you a timeframe when though.