Hi Arunee, Very valueable information. Regards, Vijay Chavan. --- Aruni <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The pros and cons of going 64-bit > > > > Deb Shinder > > TechRepublic > > August 21, 2006, 15:10 BST > > If you're planning to invest in new computers, it's > worth considering > whether to make the move to 64-bit technology. Does > the extra scalability > justify > > the expense? > > > > The wave of the future is undoubtedly 64-bit > technology. 64-bit processors > have been pretty common in high end servers since > 2004 and now 64-bit > desktop > > machines are being offered by most PC vendors. Since > 64-bit CPUs can handle > more memory and larger files, and 64-bit processors > are backwardly > compatible > > with 32-bit operating systems and applications, it > seems obvious that 64-bit > hardware provides you with the ultimate in > scalability. If you're in the > position > > of buying new computers in the near future, you may > be wondering whether > it's worth the expense to go 64-bit. Let's take a > look at some of the pros > and > > cons. > > > > What is 64-bit processing anyway? > > When we talk about "bits" as applied to computer > processors, we're talking > about the maximum-size number that the processor's > registers can store and > handle > > at one time. This means a 64-bit processor can > handle numbers that are twice > as large as those handled by a 32-bit processor. > Practically speaking, what > > does this mean to you? > > > > Advantages of 64-bit systems > > Just as the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit PCs in > the 1980s greatly > increased computing power, the leap from 32-bit to > 64-bit will double the > amount of > > data that a processor can handle on each clock > cycle. > > > > A big advantage of the 64-bit system is its ability > to support more system > memory. Most computer users know that programs run > faster (and you can run > more > > programs simultaneously) if you add more RAM. > Unfortunately, 32-bit chips > can generally only address 4GB of memory. > > > > There was a time when 4GB of RAM seemed like more > than enough memory for any > computer, but that's no longer true with today's > memory-hungry applications. > > And it's not just heavy gamers who need lots of > memory. The popularity of > running multiple servers as virtual machines on a > single physical computer > has > > vastly increased the memory needs of those machines, > and even on > workstations, memory-intensive graphics and video > applications, Computer > Aided Design > > (CAD) programs, computer simulation and modelling > software and the like are > pushing the upper limits of that 4GB ceiling. > > > > 64-bit processors, on the other hand, can address > enormous amounts of memory > - up to 16 exabytes. To put that number into > perspective, it's equal to over > > 16,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes, or 16 billion > gigabytes. You can be pretty > sure that by the time you need more memory than > that, the 64-bit system you > > buy today will be long gone. Of course, the amount > of memory you can install > in a system is limited by its motherboard, the > number of memory slots it has > > and the size of memory modules that are available. > Many current 64-bit > motherboards will accommodate 8 to16GB or more of > RAM. > > > > By allowing for the addressing of more RAM, 64-bit > processing can greatly > improve video encoding and decoding, CAD, VMs and > some other applications. > But > > does more bits mean better performance? Well, maybe > and maybe not. You'll > see a performance increase for applications that use > 64-bit integers, but > don't > > expect most of your apps to run any faster than they > do on your 32-bit > systems. And your web browser will still be limited > by your Internet > connection > > speed, your word processing program will still be > bottlenecked by how fast > you can type, and so on. In fact, there can be a > slight performance decrease > > caused by the switch to a 64-bit processor, because > the larger memory > address pointers take up twice as much room in the > cache. > > > > What's available in 64-bit? > > There's little doubt that 64-bit computing will > eventually make 32-bit > systems obsolete. Major hardware and software > vendors are all headed in that > direction. > > Intel shipped the 64-bit Itanium for high-end > servers way back in 2001. AMD > introduced its 64-bit Opteron and Athlon 64 > processors in 2003. > > > > .and Intel brought out its EM64T line, updating > versions of its Xeon and > Pentium 4 lines to 64-bit the next year. In 2005, > IBM came out with a > dual-core > > 64-bit PowerPC processor that was code-named > Antares, and AMD released > dual-core 64-bit Opterons for servers and Athlon 64s > for desktops. Today AMD > also > > offers the Sempron and Turion 64, Intel has the > Itanium 2 and other > platforms, such as MIPS, SPARC and HP's PA-RISC, > also support 64-bit > computing. > > > > Linux was the first operating system to run on > Intel's === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
