One of the major problems running windows xp x64 is the process threading between 32 and 64 bit applications. A 64 bit function can not call a 32 bit library, and vise versa. One of the only real benefits for x64 is the windows 2003 server kernel, which is Microsoft's most stable kernel to date. That and you are immune to any 32 bit viruses as well. My experience with x64 is as follows:
Thankfully steam provides us with 64 bit binaries of all their games. They really do not run any better what so ever, so thats basically a null issue. Other than that, all the other programs I ran were 32 bit. World of Warcraft did not like running under WOW64 (windows on windows), as well as any other 32 bit program. Also added to that fact was the major issues I had with IE64. So basically I did not see any gain in running x64.
One of the good things you can do however with xp 32 is limit the kernel to the upper portion of your 4 GB system. If you add the 3GB switch in the boot.ini file, it will force windows to use the last 1GB for the kernel and its function calls, and give you the lower portion of your ram for applications. That should speed up the kernel calls a little bit. Happy Hunting!!