Re: Opinions on 64 bit Windows and Processors

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Jay (nospam_at_*here.com)
Date: 11/10/04 

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 17:43:25 +1300

"ablesom" <able@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ugt$j8txEHA.3212@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> I'm looking for opinions regarding 64 bit XP and 64 bit CPUs. How serious
> is the performance increase and in what areas are those increases
> realized?
>
> Thanks,
> Able

<quote>
 WHY 64-BIT?
One of the primary advantages of 64-bit processors is their ability to
effectively remove the memory addressing limit inherent in 32-bit
processors. A 32-bit processor can only address 232 bytes, or 4Gbytes, of
data. While this may be adequate for basic computing operations, it's often
nowhere near adequate for processing extremely large databases, complex
drawings, video, multiple applications, or complex gaming.

On the other hand, 64-bit processors can access 264 bytes, or 16 Exabytes,
of data. This astronomical number has been estimated to be five times as
large as the number of words spoken by all people throughout history. The
limit on addressable memory space goes away when a 64-bit processor is
running in 64-bit mode.

Intel's Itanium and Xeon EM64T and AMD's 64-bit processors are full 64-bit
implementations, with 64-bit physical addressing, according to Nick Carr,
marketing manager at Red Hat. When run using 64-bit OSs, 64-bit applications
don't have to deal with the issues and limitations of addressable space that
32-bit applications must deal with.

64-bit processors also have additional registers, reducing the need for
applications to go to slower main memory. These registers retain data being
processed and deliver it to the CPU when needed. This saves the CPU from
having to fetch it from cache, slower main memory or, slowest of all, hard
disk.

In addition, a portion of the 4Gbyte address space provided by 32-bit
processors is devoted to managing the processes being run. In Windows, this
is half of the virtual address space, or the upper half of the 4Gbytes.

The benefits of 64-bit processors extend beyond the nearly unlimited memory
addressing space. The processors can also fetch 64 bits of data at a time.
All three 64-bit families--the Itanium, the Xeon EM64T, and AMD's 64-bit
processors--support a wider data path, handling twice the amount of data
that can be handled at a time by their 32-bit counterparts.

The combination is greater than merely the sum of the parts. With their
ability to handle more data and to address a virtually unlimited address
space, 64-bit processors can process considerably more data and run more
applications than a 32-bit processor or OS.

Other functions built into the chip design also enhance performance. This is
especially true for the Itanium and Itanium 2 processors, which are designed
to run a limited set of instructions and to run them in parallel.
Parallelism is integrated into the Itanium's architecture and allows it to
fetch up to three instructions at once. The processor can execute up to 20
instructions in parallel and includes 128 registers (32 static and 96
rotating). The result is extremely fast performance for certain types of
applications that lend themselves to parallelism, such as large databases,
computer-aided design, ERP, and business simulations. According to a
document obtained from Intel's labs, the Itanium also has the ability to
provide the "illusion of infinite physical registers," removing
register-related processing restrictions.

Finally, the Itanium can easily outperform the Xeon EM64T and the AMD 64-bit
processors when running applications that make use of the its integrated
hardware features.

<source>
http://www.networkmagazine.com/shared/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=47205169&classroom=

Jay

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