32 vs 64 bit OS

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forart
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32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by forart »

Wanna invite everyone to discuss both here and @ this Haiku's 3ad (where i cited ROS) about this controversial discussion: is a 64bit os *always* better than 32bit one ?
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hefner
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by hefner »

I think on Wikipedia has a good pro and contra section on this -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit#32-_vs_64-bit
Z98
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by Z98 »

I don't see a controversy....

Anyway, the situation with 32 vs 64 can probably be summed up in, the advantages offered by 64bit outweighs the very, very few disadvantages of 64bit, none of which are showstoppers, so there is no reason not to transition to 64bit from a technical perspective.
shellc0de
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by shellc0de »

Would you argue 32 bit is better than 16 bit? Then you would understand why it is fact 64 bit is better than 32 bit. The architecture intel layed out is pretty impressive, while the technology hasnt caught up yet, no one has TERRABYTES of ram or a particular NEED for 64 bit, but im sure in the future there will be a NEED and 32 bit will phase out (not for a long long time though).
Z98
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by Z98 »

I would point out that it was AMD that developed the 64bit extensions to x86, not Intel.
mrugiero
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by mrugiero »

Z98 wrote:I would point out that it was AMD that developed the 64bit extensions to x86, not Intel.
In fact, but IA-64 came first :P
It is not an x86 extension, but it's a 64 bits arch...
asd1!
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by asd1! »

shellc0de wrote:The architecture intel layed out is pretty impressive, while the technology hasnt caught up yet, no one has TERRABYTES of ram or a particular NEED for 64 bit, but im sure in the future there will be a NEED and 32 bit will phase out (not for a long long time though).
Maybe not as home user, but at work we have servers with 256GiB of RAM.
They are used for manipulating genomic data (mapping DNA, ...). The 64-bit versions of the programs are considerably faster than the 32-bit versions.

Not that the servers run Windows ...
Wierd
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by Wierd »

At my work (engineering dept at aircraft plant), we use high end drafting software on windows boxes. Specifically Dassault Systemes Catia and Unigraphics.

The 64bit version of catia is hands-down better/faster in my experience than the 32bit flavor, especially when dealing with very complicated NURBS surfaces, like aircraft skins. Catia is about the only multi-processor aware application I have ever used (with exception to the BoinC client) that can bring a whole multiprocessor system to its knees, and allocate every scrap of RAM in sight in mere seconds. The 64bit version benefits greatly from the increased word size, increased register size, and increased memory space that the 64bit platform offers.

64bit is the future, much like 32bit was the future back in the early 90s, when the 386 first came out. Back then, (when everyone had maybe 4mb to 16mb of system RAM) the idea that you would eventually NEED more than 4gb of RAM was considered preposterous, much like the idea that you might someday eventually NEED more than 64TB of the stuff is now. These days, I can blow through 4gb of RAM in a matter of seconds on my CAD/CAM workstation. I would LOVE to have one with over a TB of RAM installed.

For home users though, things like converting digital video, or even playing some of the new varieties of online video (due to more aggressive codecs) would benefit from the increased word and register sizes that 64bit offers, even if they dont need that much RAM.

I seriously doubt that Microsoft will release another 32bit flavored OS after windows 7, in fact.
forart
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Re: 32 vs 64 bit OS

Post by forart »

Wierd wrote:I seriously doubt that Microsoft will release another 32bit flavored OS after windows 7, in fact.
The next Windows verrion (8) will be ONLY @ 64bit.
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