Hi,

Can anyone tell me what is the difference between windows 32-bit and windows 64-bit?
Can I install them both or I need a special hardware for 64-bit?

The simple answer is the memory address availability the two numbers 32 64 are the number of noughts/zero places for each address.

32 bit is 2 raised to the 32nd = 4294967294 possible memory address
while
64 bit is 2 raised to the 64th =18446744073709551616 possible memory addresses

In reality its never quite that simple but thats the overal concept

As for installation check the microsoft web site or contact them I would asume you may need more ram for 64 bit and software that can use 64 bit.

Personly my thinking is why do you want it? many years ago I wanted all the latest technology. I even RENTED a 625 line TV 6 months before the transmission was available just so I could have a fancy ariel on the roof. Watched the snow and test card for ages.

AR

It's not only related to memory addressing space.
A 64 bit CPU is also capable of doing arithmetic on 64 bit numbers at once which can result in a performance increase in certain applications.

it's for the new 64 bit processors that AMD and Intel are/have released.

basically a 32 bit processor can accept 32 bits each cycle, while a 64 bit can do well, 64. (I think)

it's basically like the difference between the old 16 bit chips. (the 286) and the 32 bit chip (the 386)

microsoft had to rewrite their software to deal with the 32 bit chips and now they are doing it again to deal with the next leap.

here's a site with some history.

http://www.pcmech.com/show/processors/35/1/

sorry, to answer your question, (kind of) unless you have a 64 bit processor. (most likely a AMD64 athlon sine the intel chips are just now starting to be available in Japan) there would be no reason for you to install windows 64. though if you did. I would imagine it would see that you only have a 32 bit processor and simply go into 32 mode which is pretty much normal windows xp.

HP's new crossbar nanotechnology looks like it will be disruptive
in 5 to 15 years.

Read the technical paper and the nanotechnology really looks great once they get
the technology working a little faster and with more realibility.

Just the beginning so I recommend keeping an eye on this nanotechnology I think
it will change future computing.

XP 64 bit will have full use of all 16 registers provided by AMD's (and some of Intel's) CPUs. Therefore, depending on the application, you may see anywhere from no improvement to a 50% increase in performance. Once again, that's application specific, and you won't notice any improvement if you're emulating a 32 bit program (as it was only programmed for 8 registers in the first place). However, I wouldn't switch quite yet as the drivers are few and far between, and sub-optimal at that. I would wait at least until it officially comes out, and depending on the reviews, maybe even longer.

The newest beta version of W64 jus came out. Is it possible to upgrade the previous w64 beta to the newest version, or will i have to make a clean install?

also, in what areas should the extra 8 registers help out with?

In general, the 8 extra registers will help out in the same basic areas where AMD normally wins against Intel. That is, in applications where the code is more parallelizeable.