64 Bit Computing

[Jon M. Hanson]

On Jul 12, 2007, at 3:21 AM, Scott (angrykeyboarder) wrote:

> gm5729 spake thusly on 226278200 ::
>> Hey all. Guys and gals :)
>>
>> I am wondering if any of you run a 64 bit environment on your
>> machines? I just purchased a Lenovo laptop dual core and am doing
>> research before I figure out what route I want to go with it.
>
> I have in the past. My CPU is an AMD Athlon 64, but 64-bit OS' proved
> too much of a hassle. In the case of Linux it was stuff like browser
> plugins. And inevitably I'd want an obscure app that was only compiled
> for 32-bit.
>
> Not to mention, if you don't have at least 4GB of RAM ,there is really
> no advantage advantage to running 64-bit over 32-bit anyway.

There are still advantages to using a 64-bit CPU even if you're not  
using it to address more memory than you can with a 32-bit processor.  
For one thing in EM64T mode you get a bunch more general-purpose  
registers that should speed things up because of less register  
pressure (less memory accesses). Also, all integers are now 64-bit so  
you get wider fidelity there. Even with less physical memory your  
programs still get the 64-bit (well, 40-bit) virtual address space.