Will XBMC for Windows run on 64-bit Vista?

My point was that a native x64 OS + x64 app will run faster than an x32 OS + x32 app... thus, it would be nice to have XBMC at x64.

I truly don't understand why 64 bit apps are not the norm in today's world... x32 should only be for legacy apps... CPUs have been able to support x64 for a few years now and I don't think any are sold that do not (or very very few)... app developers (commercial & non) should be leading the way to x64 as the "norm", not just saying "we've always just done 32bit" -- or maybe we should tell Intel & AMD to stop building better hardware... the original ISA Bus was just fine!

because
1) normal apps dont need >4gb ram
2) normal apps hardly benefit much from the additional simd capabilities nor higher number of registers due to memory bw being the main limiter these days.

the switch from 16bit to 32bit was needed. the switch from 32bit to 64bit is not needed at all, it can be rationalized by games and a some CAD like applications. and is driven by memory requirements, not fundamental architecture changes. no. the real reason there's a push for 64bit in the consumer market is that manifacturers wants to sell more hw. this is just consumers saying eff that, who cares. the point here is, sure, develop new hw. but develop new hw which brings us some real, everyday observeable benefit. the change to 64bit has yet to deliver that.

don't get me wrong, i know all the benefits of 64bit computing (heck i run large scale simulations on a almost daily basis so i know all about single applications churning on gigabytes on memory. but that does not mean there's a need in the consumer market, and the reason we're not running everything in 64bit is caused by just that - there's no need.

The thing that do help is the tighter driver modell in vista 64 forcing driver developers to put some effort into writing their drivers. It mostly effects stability but it also has a sideeffect in performance

Tight now I'm o 2 64 bit systems and 1 32bit
the first one are a 2008 server and a vista ultimate (not yet sp1).
both of them run smooth and very well, stable and no issues.
The major advantage, as pointed out, is that on 64bit systems you must (if you do not diable it) use signed drivers.
That means that the overall quality of the driver is higher, positive side, but some small hw devices or old ones will not have the driver, due to the costs associated to the signature. And this is the negative side.

Said that I had to give up my hauppauge for this reason... but I'm anyway very very very happy of both server and vista.

In addition to that if you want to use 4GB of ram (as I do) the 64bit is mandatory.

As a general perception when I moved from the 32 to 64 on exactly the same hw I had the feeling it was slightly more responsive. I do not have any data to support this, just an inpression.

It even must be said that as of today very few programs are compiled for x64 and very very few are DESIGNED for x64.
Thus the real advantages (if any, but I think they could exist) still have to be explited.

Mf

I forgot to add: XMBC (expecially last WiSo drop) runs PERFECTLY!

Mf

Is it a goal to have xbmc and it's OS run fully from ram?
Booting from a solid state device/net boot and still being able to have xbmc and a fully featured web browser (..I know I know) etc seems like a decent feature, is this feasible?
On machines that can decode high bitrate video, where ram is small % of the overall cost, with a stripped down OS would more than 1 or 2 of gigs of memory even be needed?

hazeh Wrote:Is it a goal to have xbmc and it's OS run fully from ram?
Booting from a solid state device/net boot and still being able to have xbmc and a fully featured web browser (..I know I know) etc seems like a decent feature, is this feasible?
On machines that can decode high bitrate video, where ram is small % of the overall cost, with a stripped down OS would more than 1 or 2 of gigs of memory even be needed?

Hazeh Your talking windows here Windows version like the OSX version will always require the Main operating system and desktop under them because thats just how they work
If you want to run nothing but xbmc you really need to look at the Linux port