>>> my Shuttle SN85G4v3. I've just tested WinXP-64 on it and have issues
>>> (which we don't care here ;) too.
>>
>> tested too - actually slower than WinXP/i386 ;)
>>
>
> oh ? how is it possible ??? M$ homepage states it's a brand new thing
> enabling users to gain significant perfomance enhancement, ... :p

since the beginning of Micro$oft new version is always slower and has more 
bugs than old. this is no exception.

took about 55 minutes to install.

>> actually in NetBSD/amd64 there are some problems running 32-bit
>> non-native apps, like 64-bit only linux emulation.
>>
>
> have you tried running NetBSD/i386 apps on NetBSD/amd64 too ?

yes i do run mks_vir for NetBSD/i386 (polish antiviral software, no amd64 
binary yet). works fine.

> as I have play with NetBSD/i386 on this machine and build packages, I
> thought I may be able to run some apps (namely nvtv ;) in
> /emul/netbsd32.

should work. but is there only NetBSD/i386 binary? can't you compile it 
from pkgsrc for amd64?
>>> My question is, when you have to run NetBSD/i386 on an AMD64 machine
>>> (for driver or app support), to what extend do you get the benefits
>>> from the AMD64 architecture ?
>>>
>> you will have exactly the same driver support on NetBSD/i386 and
>> NetBSD/amd64 because NetBSD is really designed to be cross-platform.

> yep, I knew that (my Adaptec U160 sits in my Ultra5 because of this :) -
> I was thinking of performance issue/benefits. The thing I'm wondering
> if I am still (really) faster (in i386 mode) with my Athlon64 3200+ than
> if I had an AthlonXP 3200+ (or P4)...
>

difference in ordinary software with athlon64 and 32 or 64 bit mode isn't 
high but it is - 64-bit software doesn't run slower for sure :) and 
binaries are little bit larger - but not ab. 2 times like with sparc.

> there :
> http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1469&page=13
> didn't seem to show real advantages in having amd64 when running 32bit
> apps.
>

yes. but all apps i run are 64 bit


> eventhough it's windows benchmarks, I would have expected better amd64
> marks.

windows is windows. you asked about some real software