Not sure if this has been posted already but I couldn't find any threads on it.

Purchasing technology can be frustrating—the minute you buy something, the new version becomes available. We understand this frustration and have created a program in cooperation with our partners to help alleviate it.

The Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Technology Advancement Program enables customers who have purchased Windows XP Professional (32-bit) to exchange it for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. You will need to have an x64 processor (the AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron, Intel Pentium 4 with EM64T, or Intel Xeon with EM64T) to run the new software.

In order to be eligible to receive Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition, your computer must have been ordered between March 31, 2003 and July 31, 2005 with Microsoft Windows® XP Pro (32 Bit) preinstalled.

In addition, you must read and agree to the following:
- By participating in this program, your 32-bit version of Windows® XP Professional will no longer be licensed.
- The installation of Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition requires you to format your hard drive. You must back up your files and settings prior to the installation or they will be erased. Microsoft is not liable for any loss of data as a result of this installation.
- Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition requires 64-bit hardware drivers (32-bit drivers are not supported). Drivers for 64-bit Windows are created at the discretion of hardware manufacturers and may not be available for some of your hardware components.
- For the purposes of the End User License Agreement for your existing Windows® XP Pro (32 Bit) software, your installation of this software will be an “Upgrade.”
- The installation of Windows® XP Professional x64 Editions will void any support with your PC manufacturer. One free support call will be provided by Microsoft for any installation-related issues. Additional calls to Microsoft support will be available on a pay-per-incident basis.
- Cost for shipping and handling of upgrade is $12.00 USD for domestic shipments and $22.00 USD for International shipments plus any applicable taxes.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/upgrade/default.mspx

Register Here!

Ok, so it's not totally free, there is a shipping charge but i think it's a pretty good deal myself. Get in while the going's good if you're interested.

is anyone running x64 here?

does it increase speeds of current games/programs, or only ones that have been specifically written for 64bit environment?

There is no use in using yet because there is no 64 bit games or apps out. Its kinda pointless. At this stage I think Ill just wait for Longhorn to get released, at least the drivers and software support will be around then.

From what i've heard it slows things down and Linux has better driver support.

Here is a list of XP64 compatibility for applications - note the large number of Microsoft products that don't work

I think the key thing for most gamers is that at present since there's no 64bit ASPI emulation none of the CDRom emulators work. So if you go to a lan you can't take an image of your game CDs you have to have the originals with you (i.e. Alcohol and Daemon tools don't work).

Here is a list of supported games. For other games you'll need to boot back to XP32. Of course, after doing the MS XP 64 upgrade you are no longer licensed for XP32.

CNET's review of XP64 shows that generally it is (slightly) slower than XP32.

I'm still keen to give it a go, but i'm not prepared to give up my XP32 license just yet.

i've read on ars that on nforce4 chipset systems, there's a chance that the registry might get trashed so badly that the system won't boot.

last edited by Fish at 19:54:48 26/Apr/05

I have a NF4 motherboard and have had no problems. Overall the transition to win64 has gone very smoothly for me, with the only problem being that my virus scanner would not install {Mcafee internet security). This was solved atleast for the time being by installing the 90 day trial version of Mcafee enterprise.

The only other problem ive had is I was unable to install dvd43 but dvdshrink worked fine.

As to weather anything running faster... Its all running great but id put that down to the fresh install.

well, here's the article i read: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050425-4843.html

we ran into a particularly nasty and reproducible bug with the NVIDIA nforce4 Ultra chipset. Enabling NCQ on that box trashed the registry so bad that x64 Windows wouldn't boot.

probably something that you wouldn't want to try. anyway, personally i'm going to wait till the end of the year when it's time for a reinstall to try the new windows... or probably wait till sp1

I knew i should of kept my mouth shut about x64

Got Spinter Cell Chaos Theory today and the darn thing wont run. AHHHAHAHHH

I've got normal XP and 64 bit XP dual booting at the moment, but I'm hardly using 64 bit XP. Hercules dont have 64 bit drivers for their sound cards, and I emailed tech support and was told they have no plans to make any :(

Anyone know if Microsoft is planning 64 bit upgrades for their other apps? Like Office and Visual Studio?

Don't think MS will be updating any of thier productivity or development suite to x64 anytime soon, because simply x32-64 market for home users will be pretty small and the benefit gained by these software suit will be miminal. However, I'm pretty sure they'll be updating thier Server suite like SQL Server etc since these apps will gained more benefits from the 64 bit. But yeah, I wouldn't expect to see the full blown 64 bit Outlook or Word port from MS.

I've got normal XP and 64 bit XP dual booting at the moment

just curious, did the x64 install disc do it for you? or do you have to do it yoruself?

64bit SQL is available already (running it at work).

The next version of vis-studio is 64 bit. not sure about office.

Once vis-studio is finally released i think we'll start to see some more xp64 apps.

just curious, did the x64 install disc do it for you? or do you have to do it yoruself?

Did it for me.