Differences Between 32-bit and 64-bit Systems

Reprint:http://superuser.com/questions/56540/32-bit-vs-64-bit-systems

Note: These answers apply to standard PC CPUs (Intel and AMD) and Windows (as typically configured for end-users). Other 32-bit or 64-bit chips, other OSes, and other OS configurations can have different tradeoffs.

From a technical perspective, a 64-bit OS gives you:

• Allows individual processes to address more than 4 GB of RAM each (in practice, most but not all 32-bit OSes also limit the total usable system RAM to less than 4 GB, not just the per-application maximum).

• All pointers take 8 bytes instead of 4 bytes. The effect on RAM usage is minimal (because you're not likely to have an application filled with gigabytes of pointers), but in the worst theoretical case, this can make the CPU cache be able to hold 1/2 as many pointers (making it be effectively 1/2 the size). For most applications, this is not a huge deal.

• There are many more general-purpose CPU registers in 64-bit mode. Registers are the fastest memory in your entire system. There are only 8 in 32-bit mode and 16 general purpose registers in 64-bit mode. In scientific computing applications I've written, I've seen up to a 30% performance boost by recompiling in 64-bit mode (my application could really use the extra registers).

• Most 32-bit OSes really only let individual applications use 2 GB of RAM, even if you have 4 GB installed. This is because the other 2 GB of address space is reserved for sharing data between applications, with the OS, and for communicating with drivers. Windows and Linux will let you adjust this tradeoff to be 3 GB for applications and 1 GB shared, but this can cause problems for some applications that don't expect the change. I'm also guessing it might cripple a graphics card that has 1 GB of RAM (but I'm not sure). A 64-bit OS can give individual 32-bit applications closer to the full 4 GB to play with.

From a user's perspective:

• Application speed is usually faster for a 64-bit application in a 64-bit OS compared to the 32-bit version of the application on a 32-bit OS, but most users won't see this speed-up. Most applications for normal users don't really take advantage of the extra registers or the benefits are balanced out by bigger pointers filling up the cache.

• If you have any memory hog applications (like photo editors, video processing, scientific computing, etc.), if you have (or can buy) more than 3 GB of RAM, and you can get a 64-bit version of the application, the choice is easy: use the 64-bit OS.

• Some hardware doesn't have 64-bit drivers. Check your motherboard, all plug-in cards, and all USB devices before making the switch. Note that in the early days of Windows Vista, there were lots of problems with drivers. These days things are generally better.

• If you run so many applications at a time that you're running out of RAM (usually you can tell this because your computer starts getting really slow and you hear the hard disk drive crunching), then you'll want a 64-bit OS (and sufficient RAM).

• You can run 32-bit applications (but not drivers) in 64-bit Windows with no problems. The worst slowdown I've measured for a 32-bit application in 64-bit Windows is about 5% (meaning that if it took 60 seconds to do something in 32-bit Wind