Does a 64-bit operating system really increase performance at all? And if so, how?

Well the one thing I can think of is the increased number of registers. Also if you go to www.planetx64.com you will see a review of Lightwave 3d a popular program ported to 64 bit and check out the performance differences! It is unbelieveable. Here is the link http://www.planetx64.com/index.php?option=...&id=5&Itemid=52

When I installed it on my computer it did load faster, but I thought the performance was the same. It was alright, though some of my dsktop graphics looked a bit different, must have been my video card driver, and some of my drivers didn't function to properly. So I re-formatted my computer again and installed normal Windows XP SP2.

my performance is much better, everything is more responsive. folders load up in under a second. just seemes a little slower with 32bit.

Yeah, its faster, and i reckon some of my 32bit apps are running quicker in WOW, than 32bit xp. Games are noticably quicker loading, and video editing is lightning fast, but sata raid is one of the reasons my system is quick, apart from the fanny quicker CPU i use.

fanny quicker cpu... how fast is that overclocked? im going at fx60 speeds

the only type of video editing ive done with x64 so far would be dvdShrink, i shrunk a ~8gig dvd to ~4gigs in 12min. it may also be my computer, i know my old crappy computer would take over an hour...