what IA-32, IA-64 and intel 64 are

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
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M

Mike

Hi

I'd like to ask what IA-32, IA-64 and intel 64 are.
Are they related to compiler?
How do I know which my computer is(or has)?

Thank you.

Mike
 
How to determine whether your computer is running a 32-bit version or a
64-bit version of the Windows operating systemhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218

--
Rey








- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, Rey. Now I know mine is 32 bit.

Mike
 
How to determine whether your computer is running a 32-bit version or a
64-bit version of the Windows operating systemhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218
Click to expand...

I surf at wikipedia, which shows IA is about intel architecture.
Does 32-bit version of Windows OS only run on IA-32 CPU based PC?

Mike
 
Mike said:
I surf at wikipedia, which shows IA is about intel architecture.
Does 32-bit version of Windows OS only run on IA-32 CPU based PC?
Click to expand...

No, it can be also be installed on the 64-bit Intel EMT64 chips and on
the AMD64 chips. The 64-bit Windows versions can only be installed on
64-bit chips, they cannot be installed on the IA-32 (32-bit x86).

Note that there is also an Intel IA-64, the pure 64-bit Itanium
processor, in the Microsoft stable of products only specially designed
Server versions can be installed on the IA-64.

The main difference in the 32/64-bit chip architecture and the Windows
versions is in the amount of memory that the platforms support:

Memory Limits for Windows Releases
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Microsoft Computing on Itanium
http://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/itanium/overview.mspx

John
 
No, it can be also be installed on the 64-bit Intel EMT64 chips and on
the AMD64 chips.  The 64-bit Windows versions can only be installed on
64-bit chips, they cannot be installed on the IA-32 (32-bit x86).

Note that there is also an Intel IA-64, the pure 64-bit Itanium
processor, in the Microsoft stable of products only specially designed
Server versions can be installed on the IA-64.

The main difference in the 32/64-bit chip architecture and the Windows
versions is in the amount of memory that the platforms support:

Memory Limits for Windows Releaseshttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Microsoft Computing on Itaniumhttp://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/itanium/overview.mspx

John
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your explanation.

Mike
 
No, it can be also be installed on the 64-bit Intel EMT64 chips and on
the AMD64 chips.  The 64-bit Windows versions can only be installed on
64-bit chips, they cannot be installed on the IA-32 (32-bit x86).

Note that there is also an Intel IA-64, the pure 64-bit Itanium
processor, in the Microsoft stable of products only specially designed
Server versions can be installed on the IA-64.

The main difference in the 32/64-bit chip architecture and the Windows
versions is in the amount of memory that the platforms support:

Memory Limits for Windows Releaseshttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Microsoft Computing on Itaniumhttp://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/itanium/overview.mspx

John
Click to expand...

I remember that, when I do programming, windows XP (I use 32-bit
version) usualy shows message of "out of memory". Then I have to
extend the memory by increasing the virtual memory to the limit. I've
tried it. It is 4096 MB. It is very annoying.
Could you suggest me for the newer Windows and CPU?
ps. My computer is 7 years old with intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz and Win XP
version 2002.

Thank you in advance.

Mike
 
Mike said:
I remember that, when I do programming, windows XP (I use 32-bit
version) usualy shows message of "out of memory". Then I have to
extend the memory by increasing the virtual memory to the limit. I've
tried it. It is 4096 MB. It is very annoying.
Could you suggest me for the newer Windows and CPU?
ps. My computer is 7 years old with intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz and Win XP
version 2002.

Thank you in advance.

Mike
Click to expand...

From Intel, there are the Core2 family of processors. Some are dual core
and some are quad core, meaning it is like having two or four processors,
only they reside in a single CPU socket.

The EM64T here, means the processor is 64 bit capable. This one is a
quad core.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLACQ

AMD has Athlon64 X2 dual cores and Phenom quad cores. Also 64 bit capable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Athlon_64_X2_microprocessors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Phenom_microprocessors

For processor benchmarks, normally I'd point you to the charts on
Tomshardware, but for a change, I dug up another chart. Prime95 is
a program that searches for prime numbers, and the chart gives some idea
of how your P4 1.70GHz compares to some of the other processors. An
exanple of a decently fast dual core would be the E8400, which
costs about $170. It is 0.0111 in the first column of the chart,
while the P4 1.7Ghz is 0.0336 . That means the E8400 is about 3
times faster, even though the clock ratio is 1.76x. The E8400
dual core uses 65W of electricity, so should be pretty cool
running. Whether a dual core or a quad core makes sense, really
depends on whether the programs you run, are multithreaded.
Typically, multimedia programs are the ones that can split a
problem into multiple pieces, and have each core work on
a portion of the problem. If you do enough multimedia stuff,
then a quad might make more sense.

http://www.mersenne.org/bench.htm

Example of the E8400.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

Paul
 
 From Intel, there are the Core2 family of processors. Some are dual core
and some are quad core, meaning it is like having two or four processors,
only they reside in a single CPU socket.

The EM64T here, means the processor is 64 bit capable. This one is a
quad core.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLACQ

AMD has Athlon64 X2 dual cores and Phenom quad cores. Also 64 bit capable..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...a.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Phenom_microprocessors

For processor benchmarks, normally I'd point you to the charts on
Tomshardware, but for a change, I dug up another chart. Prime95 is
a program that searches for prime numbers, and the chart gives some idea
of how your P4 1.70GHz compares to some of the other processors. An
exanple of a decently fast dual core would be the E8400, which
costs about $170. It is 0.0111 in the first column of the chart,
while the P4 1.7Ghz is 0.0336 . That means the E8400 is about 3
times faster, even though the clock ratio is 1.76x. The E8400
dual core uses 65W of electricity, so should be pretty cool
running. Whether a dual core or a quad core makes sense, really
depends on whether the programs you run, are multithreaded.
Typically, multimedia programs are the ones that can split a
problem into multiple pieces, and have each core work on
a portion of the problem. If you do enough multimedia stuff,
then a quad might make more sense.

http://www.mersenne.org/bench.htm

Example of the E8400.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

    Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

I don't know about multi-threading, although I did surf sometimes in
YouTube or Google videos.
I write fortran program mainly, use MS word, read PDF.
Recently, I start to learn matlab. Will matlab use multi-thread?
Oh, I also use some image processing software.
So maybe I need more cores (I mean core 2 Dual or Quad) to watch
videos(not very often).
The E8400 processor you suggest is core 2 Dual.
Can I buy it to install in my 7-year-old motherboard?
I guess not.

Thank you very much.

Mike
 
No, it can be also be installed on the 64-bit Intel EMT64 chips and on
the AMD64 chips.  The 64-bit Windows versions can only be installed on
64-bit chips, they cannot be installed on the IA-32 (32-bit x86).

Note that there is also an Intel IA-64, the pure 64-bit Itanium
processor, in the Microsoft stable of products only specially designed
Server versions can be installed on the IA-64.

The main difference in the 32/64-bit chip architecture and the Windows
versions is in the amount of memory that the platforms support:

Memory Limits for Windows Releaseshttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Microsoft Computing on Itaniumhttp://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/itanium/overview.mspx

John
Click to expand...

I still have some questions:
1. What for choosing different architecture of CPU?
Does 64-bit cpu run faster, more accurate or other benifits?
2. What for choosing different versions of OS?
Does 64-bit Window run faster, more accurate or other benifits?

Mike
 
Mike said:
I still have some questions:
1. What for choosing different architecture of CPU?
Does 64-bit cpu run faster, more accurate or other benifits?
Click to expand...

In this day and age I don't think that it makes much sense buying a
32-bit CPU. There isn't much of a cost advantage so you may as well get
a 64-bit ready computer, as mentioned in other posts you can still
install and use 32-bit operating systems on these 64-bit systems, if you
decide later on that a 64-bit OS would be better for you at least you
will have a 64-bit ready computer, you won't have to buy another machine!

2. What for choosing different versions of OS?
Does 64-bit Window run faster, more accurate or other benifits?
Click to expand...

It all depends on what kind of software you want to run on your computer
and on whether or not the software is written for a 64-bit environment,
if the software is well designed then yes it will probably run faster on
a 64-bit machine, if all your software is 32-bit then it won't run any
faster on 64-bits. 64-bits is no more "accurate" than 32-bits, they're
computers, both are equally accurate, processors make few mistakes. The
last time I ever heard of processor accuracy was quite a few years ago
when Intel admitted that there was a small error in one of their
processors. The error was so tiny that about 99.999% of computer users
would have never even been affected by the error but the way Intel
handled the problem they annoyed 99.999% of their customers and the
episode turned out to be quite a debacle and a near marketing fiasco for
Intel! There are drawbacks to 64-bit systems with regards to hardware
drivers, not all hardware has 64-bit drivers available, but that is
improving all the time.

You may want to ask for more information in the 64-bit newsgroup:

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.64bit.general

John
 
No, it can be also be installed on the 64-bit Intel EMT64 chips and on
the AMD64 chips.  The 64-bit Windows versions can only be installed on
64-bit chips, they cannot be installed on the IA-32 (32-bit x86).

Note that there is also an Intel IA-64, the pure 64-bit Itanium
processor, in the Microsoft stable of products only specially designed
Server versions can be installed on the IA-64.

The main difference in the 32/64-bit chip architecture and the Windows
versions is in the amount of memory that the platforms support:

Memory Limits for Windows Releaseshttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

Microsoft Computing on Itaniumhttp://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/itanium/overview.mspx

John
Click to expand...

I surf the website your show and find

Physical Memory Limits: Windows XP
The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for
Windows XP.

Version Limit in 32-bit Windows Limit in 64-bit
Windows
Windows XP 4 GB 128 GB

Does this mean even I have installed 8GB RAM, I cannot use the other
4GB if I use 32-bit Windows?

Mike
 
Mike said:
I surf the website your show and find

Physical Memory Limits: Windows XP
The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for
Windows XP.

Version Limit in 32-bit Windows Limit in 64-bit
Windows
Windows XP 4 GB 128 GB

Does this mean even I have installed 8GB RAM, I cannot use the other
4GB if I use 32-bit Windows?
Click to expand...

That is correct, 32-bit Windows XP/Vista cannot use more than 4GB of
RAM, you need a 64-bit version to use that much RAM. Also, although
32-bit Windows can use 4GB of RAM it wont be able to because other
devices (video card, sound card, controller card, etc.) will use
processor address space in the lower 4GB arena and this will prevent
32-bit operating systems from accessing some of the RAM. Depending on
what kind of devices are installed in the computer on 32-bit Windows
XP/Vista operating systems you wont be able to use much more than
approximately 3 GB or a bit more of RAM.

8GB of RAM is a lot of RAM! Machines with that much memory are usually
server class machines or *very* high end workstations doing intense
CAD/CAM or graphic processing work. Don't buy on the notion that more
is better, you may need such a machine but if you don't you are just
wasting your money. In other words, don't buy a tractor-trailer if you
only need a pickup truck!

John
 
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