Re: [Nolug] 64-bit athlon?

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004, Joey Kelly wrote:

> Um, what? 32-bit-computing means that you are processing things in parallel,
> 32 at a time, unless I'm terribly wrong about this. Yes, 32-bit leaves you
> with only 4GB of addressable RAM, but you've got 32 registers working in
> parallel. Moving to 64-bit is vastly faster than staying with 32-bit.

Possibly, but unless your apps can keep all the registers running at 100%
all the time, then any performance increase is neglible. "Most" apps
can't. Bottom line is it depends -- on the app, the processor, and who
you talk to. Very large integer number crunching will see a performance
boost, most other apps won't. Some even say 64-bit apps are slower than
their 32-bit counterparts.

I think the big push for 64-bit, as Brett said, is to get past the 4-gig
limit, and get rid of the hacks Intel currently uses to get past 4-gigs.
64-bit for desktops doesn't make sense, today. It's probably worth the
extra money for bragging rights, though.

ray

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Received on 10/23/04