Well, it's a tad disappointing, but XP64 (it's just easier to call it that) was removed from the new comptuer I'm building for my father. There just isn't the support that MS claims there is.

So this is just a warning. While MS claims compatibility, Every 32bit program I tired to install failed, the most important of these being AVG and Quicken. Also, what I didn't realize (though it makes sense now that I think about it) is that 32bit drivers are completely incompatible with the OS, and if the company that made a particular peripheral doesn't have 64 bit drivers, I'm out of luck. I was suprised to see that about half of them did (ATI, Creative, even Logitech), but companies like HP haven't caught up, and printers are kinda important.

So we're back to 32bit XP. Oh well. We'll keep the OS on the back burner. And a dual boot isn't even worth the trouble.

On the extremely bright side, this new PC is shaping up nicely. I haven't really run any official tests, but I installed Max Payne 2 last night, and bumped up every setting to its highest (including resolution to 1920x1200), and the game ran with no problems whatsoever. Perfectly smooth. So I can confidently recommend this card.

As for the CPU, I'm going to see what kind of real-world tests I can run. Maybe rip a CD with EAC and see how fast lame can convert the tracks. Something like that. Or how fast Pocket Video Encoder can compress a bunch of videos to mpeg4.

Are there any suggestions for free benchmarking programs?