<Puts on his flame proof suit>
Ok guys I have a dumb question. I know the new 64 bit processors are making
quite an impact on the pc world. But one question what exactly is the
advantage to using a 64 bit OS and running 64 bit apps? Are they faster?
More powerful? Please elaborate.
-Chris
Heres a kind of cheesy blurb on it:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111771,00.asp
Heres some excerpts from GamePC.com , their impressions of Win 64:
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=amd64xp&page=1
The biggest benefits for 64-bit computing on the desktop today are
memory limitations and code efficiency. Code compiled for 64-bit
processors using 64-bit compilers can often see significant
performance boosts compared to the 32-bit world. Performance
differences will vary from application to application, but the general
target is anywhere from 5-15% performance boosts. Applications which
exceed today's 4GB memory limitations of 32-bit Windows will see
immediate performance boosts, but for home desktops and gamers, let's
face it, those are few and far between. 32-bit applications running on
a 64-bit OS will see little to no performance benefit, and in some
occasions, will see slight performance decreases.
If you're developing new applications from scratch, the AMD64 solution
works out quite well, as you can develop for both 64-bit and 32-bit
code bases simultaneously. Let’s face it though, nothing for gaming
and the home desktop is going to require a 64-bit processor for a good
long while. Don’t get sucked into the marketing hoopla surrounding
64-bit, for most users, it will show absolutely no benefit for today’s
home computing. Workstations and server admins may very well find the
hassle of moving up to 64-bit worth it in the long-run.
2) So, there aren't any more memory limitations?
One of the complaints we hear quite often is about how flawed Windows
is when it comes to memory management and large quantity support. If
you'll remember, Windows 9x only supported 512MB without problems, and
the 32-bit NT variants of Windows all the way up to Windows XP only
support 4GB of memory. The server and datacenter variants of Windows
Server 2000 and 2003 were able to support up to 32GB using PAE
(Physical Address Extension), which worked, but doesn't seem like a
particularly smooth way of going about the memory quantity limits of
32-bit operation. (PAE was disabled by default in all of these OS's)
Windows XP 64-bit Edition for AMD64 can utilize up to 16 terabytes of
physical memory, equal to 16,000 gigs of memory for those of you who
didn't want to break out the calculator. 64-bit applications basically
now have free reign and can use however much memory is available in
the system, and are not limited to the 4GB per process limitations of
32-bit Windows. I think it's safe to say that it will be a while
before we hear folks complaining that 16 terabytes of memory isn't
enough space.
Of course, while the OS and processor can use this much memory as a
maximum, there are limitations when it comes to hardware. Today's
high-end 2P Opteron systems can only hold up to 16GB of memory on the
motherboard, and in reality, that's limited to only 8GB of memory
since 2GB DDR SDRAM modules are not readily available on the market.
Four and eight-way Opteron systems can hold considerably more, but
we're not even close to the range of holding up to a terabyte of
memory in a single system yet.
Keep in mind, 32-bit programs which are running under Windows XP
64-bit will still be limited to 4GB of memory for each process. The
difference here is that each process can have a dedicated 4GB of
memory address space, and does not have to share space between the
operating system or other software. This leads to the fact to the
realization that today's high-end 32-bit applications have the chance
of running smoother on a 64-bit CPU with a 64-bit OS, even if the
software itself isn't 64-bit native code.
From what we've seen, Windows-On-Windows 64 is absolutely seamless,
and all 32-bit applications worked fine without ANY hassle. Keep in
mind, the need for a layer between the application and the OS is an
issue with Microsoft, not AMD's Opteron implementation. WoW64 is also
used for 32-bit application use for Intel's Itanium processor as well.
