On 3/26/07, Ken Moffat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For x86_64 (only) the programming model is better - gcc has a lot > more registers to play with, so it can do better optimization and > run faster - whether it makes a difference to normal usage is a > different matter entirely.
Well, many people argue whether that is enough for the speed. Pointers are 2 times longer, the Virtual memory system has to do more lookups, caches have to be bigger and cache checking might be slower. So, assuming 64-bits is faster (even for x86_64) is a bit dangerous. So, I'd rather put as the benefit only the huge size of the virtual memory. The programs in 64-bit mode don't have to fit into 3 GB. But this benefit is of no use for a desktop system. Normally desktop systems don't need that much of virtual memory. -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/blfs-support FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
