x86-64 vs x64

[Pemalite]

freedquaker said:

There are a lot of disadvantages with 64 bit (but of course it depends how much it matters to you)

-64 bit Win7 uses almost twice as much RAM

-64 bit uses more CPU processes and more CPU time

-64 bit version almost takes twice the Hard disc space

-64 bit version is slightly slower in many 32 bit apps (85% of my software)

-64 bit version is incompatible with many 32 bit software (10-20 % of my pprograms)

-64 bit version creates a separate directory for program files, adding to the mess

-64 bit version is less customizable in deep system settings, 32 bit is easier to slim down

etc...

 

Basically as of now, there is absolutely no benefit that I get from the 64 bit, but lots of costs! This gets a lot worse when your PC is older.

Most of that simply isn't true or blown out of proportion.

The reason why 64bit version may use up more drive space and memory is because the 64bit version can handle much larger operations, the pointer size got bigger, doubled in fact (Although the memory block that the pointer, points towards remains the same), so if you didn't change anything, then your managed heap is bigger, granted the memory overhead is also doubled that over 32bit too, 12 v 24 bytes.
However, that doesn't mean an application is automagically going to be using twice the Ram and taking up twice the drive space.

Plus you manipulate memory in QWORDS and not DWORDS, however memory allocation speed in 64bit is generally higher because of it, when used right 64bit will have a slightly higher memory overhead compared to 32bit, we are talking 15-30% tops, you need to keep in mind that 64bit systems also address multiples higher amounts of memory on average with 8gb being the sweet spot for gamers currently.

On the speed side of things, if you're running compute intensive code that can take advantage of the registers, you can see performance gains, 16 x 64 bit general purpose registers and 16 x SSE registers are available to you on a 64bit PC, instead of 8 x 32 bit general purpose registers and 8 x SSE registers on a 32bit one, that's a big difference that can be taken advantage of.

Here enjoy farcry, it's an interesting one because it's not going to be pushing the 2Gb barrier, so the gains seen aren't a result of the increase in memory allowance, it also didn't double in install size or require twice as much Ram either.