A 64-bit processor means that it can fetch memory 64 bits at a time compared to a 32-bit machine which fetches 32 bits at a time. Offhand, fetching from main memory to cache should take less time.
On the math side, It means it can handle 64-bit integer addition or subtraction in one step instead of several. Same thing goes for floating point with >32 bit precision. On strings, it can compare 4 bytes at a time instead of >just 2. But this only means something depending on what application you're >going to run. Another advantage is realized in large-memory operations, we're talking gigabytes here, as it can address way more memory: 2^64 vs. 2^32 -- try finding the answer using a normal desk calculator ;-) If you're doing videos (editing, capture, conversion, etc) and have more than 4GB of RAM, 64-bit is the way to go, as it can handle more video data in memory and should be able to compress/decompress streams much faster vs a 32-bit CPU. Caveat: The price difference may be more than the speed boost you're going to get. --- mike t. ----- Original Message ---- From: Danny Ching <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Technical Discussion List <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 1:45:10 PM Subject: [plug] 64bit vs. 32bit Hello, Linux Users! I'm a software guy, so pardon my ignorance in hardware. I know that 64bit can access more memory, and that 64bit is supposed to make multimedia processing faster. My question is: What advantage does 64 bit CPU's like the Intel Core 2 Duos, or AMD x2's have over vanilla 32 bit CPU's (if both have say 2GB of RAM)? Will there be a noticeable difference if all I do is browse, and use office apps? How about gimp (does it have to be an extremely large project to be able to notice the difference)? -- Regards, Danny Ching
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