Does 64 bit processing and Windows 2003 x64 really make a difference?

Pros and Cons of making the jump to a 64 bit OS

[asp4bunnies]

I recently installed Windows 2003 x64 on a 64 bit box and realized afterwards that none of my old dll's would work because they were 32-bit. (I eventually had regular Windows 2003 installed and all is well).

I'm now considering moving another site over to a 64 bit box and can't find out if there's a serious advantage to working on a 64 bit OS or not. Unline my other website, this new one will not require any third party dll's, so compatibility shouldn't be an issue.

The site is dynamic and has a lot of cache generation going on with it, so the performance benefit would be in managing and generating this cache (which will consist of millions of files).

Here's my pro/con list so far:

PRO
===============
- Probably faster
- Latest technology
- Might as well get the best performance out of my processor, right?

Cons
===============
- Probably very buggy.
- Incompatible with most dll's and applications, should I ever decide to install some on the OS.

I'd love if anyone who has used Windows x64 could weigh in on their experiences with the O/S running a dynamic website.

[bill]

Sorry that nobody has jumped in on this topic. I haven't had experience with the 64 bit OS yet so all I can help you with is 3rd hand info.

I've heard good and bad reports about this. Most of the feedback I've heard has been about the desktop environment where DLLs and drivers are more of an issue. It would be interesting to hear from people with 64 bit server OS experience.

On the desktop side I still hear that it's best to hold off on the 64 bit OS. There are a lot of drivers that won't be compatible. However with Windows XP now available in a 64 bit version that story seems to be changing. A lot more drivers are becoming available.

Anyone with a 64 bit OS care to share their experience?

[jchordb]

i was using a 64-bit win2003 a while back. the only diference is it can suport MASSAVE amounts of memory and hardrive space. i will warn you that there are almost NO programs that worh on 64-bit envorement. if u need 60-bit cause you want to put 25-50tb of raid buy the SOLARIS 64-bit op cause at leist there more useful aps writen for any unix-linux 64-bit then for microsoft. for ex: i have a solaris 64-bit that runs a network sniffer. i dont think that 64 will become a comin place before early 2007
as for hosting on 1 it would be VERY slow because it would have to convert 32-bit data into 64-bit(for prosesing or storing) and then back again.(to hand to the client)

some times people over estmate the power meeded to do ceartin things.(i have an Os2 controling telephine lines :-) )

--
thanks,
John Berube

[dataguy]

I have identical Dells with dual 3 ghz Xeon's. Both have Enterprise Edition installed, but my network admin screwed up on the first one and installed the 32 bit version and put it in production before he realized the mistake. The second one has x64 version of the OS installed, so it makes for pretty good side-by-side comparisons.

Both are used lightly right now, so I don't see a lot of difference in speed. I do see that the 32 bit version has much higher processor usage than the 64 bit version though.

Drivers are not usually an issue with web servers, as their range of use is pretty limited. These boxes come with 16 megs of video built in, and this does the job just fine since they don't even have monitors connected.

The only campatibility problem we've encountered is that we wanted to run Virtual Server (Virtual PC for servers) on the 64 bit OS but Virtual Server doesn't run on 64 bit OS's, just 32 bit OS's. So we must run it on the 32 bit box.

I currently have about 100 sites, a mail server and SQL Server running across 6 different servers. I hope to be able to move all of that to one decked-out x64 box soon. Do more with less, you know!

[huwnet]

I have XP 64bit edition, on an AMD Athlon X2 4400. I have managed to find drivers or driver workaround for all the hardware I have, except an old scanner with only a 16bit driver.

I recommend anyone with driver problem to go to [planetamd64.com...] where workarounds are posted.

All software works fine except for 16bit programs which are no longer supported (and rarely used) and packet scanners etc which rely on 32bit network drivers

IIS 6 comes with XP x64 and is a 64-bit version.