The one and probably only benefit with 64bit is it can access greater than 4 Gig of memory.

I'm afraid that's a very ignorant statement. Go and study the 64-bit programming model, the number of registers available, the more efficient instruction set, to get a better view of the advantages.

64bit programs and OS use more memory

Again, this shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the processor architecture.

Yes, I was wrong about all dual core processors being 64-bit. Things certanly wouldn't have gone well if you'd tried to install the 64-bit version!

Hi

Please show me some real world benchmark tests that show Windows 7 64bit outperforms Windows 7 32bit by any significant margin? All the real world tests show benchmarks much the same between 32bit and 64bit and there is no performance increase in using 64bit.

The only way Windows 7 64bit will outperform 32bit is where more memory brings improvements.

I'm not worried about processor architecture, the same as 99.999% of people using Windows and asking about about 32bit versus 64bit.

Regards

Phil

Here's one for Vista chosen at random. Only an 11% difference, but significant.

I can't actually find any comparative benchmarks for Windows 7 as most people see only to be benchmarking the 64-bit version, but I see no reason why there should be an appreciable difference between Vista and 7. If anything I would expect 7 to be even more optimized for 64-bit hardware.

Benchmarks for 32- and 64-bit versions of Linux show similar performance differences - as one would expect. I can only talk from experience and say that I have found 64-bit versions of the same OS to be noticeably more responsive than 32-bit; but that is subjective - I haven't run any benchmarks.

Well opted for the 64 bit and fingers x all goes well. Had no problems with any hardware so far, made sure before install download all new drivers. All software i have tried run ok ,apart from mass effect which installs ok then refuses to run.

apart from mass effect which installs ok then refuses to run

Have you tried compatibility mode? I'd guess this is more likely to be a Windows 7 issue rather than a specific 64-bit one. Solutions normally surface fairly quickly for this sort of problem, but there are always going to be some programs that won't work on a newer OS.

Hi

Here's one for Vista chosen at random. Only an 11% difference, but significant.

Its a "Geekbench mark" and not a real world benchmark. The reason you have linked to that one is that is the only one you've found that shows a significant difference, a synthetic benchmark using low level tests that has no relation to the real use computers are put to.

Even Microsoft on their website don't say anything about a performance difference between 32bit and 64bit, just that 64bit allows more memory to be used in order to increase responsiveness when running lots of applications.

"Put simply, a 64-bit PC can handle larger amounts of information than a 32-bit system. Since it can use more RAM�4 GB and up�a 64-bit computer can be more responsive when you're running lots of programs at once." http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compa...

Benchmarks for 32- and 64-bit versions of Linux show similar performance differences - as one would expect. I can only talk from experience and say that I have found 64-bit versions of the same OS to be noticeably more responsive than 32-bit; but that is subjective - I haven't run any benchmarks.

Subjective and a case of believing what you want. There is no real world performance improvement just using 64bit in place of 32bit, not significant anyway.

The Wiki also confirms much of what I put in my first post, just read Pros and Cons from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

People shouldn't be taken in by the bigger number is better, it is the oldest marketing trick in the book!

Regards

Phil

Edited by deleted (Sun 25-Oct-09 16:07:02)

I've come to pretty much the same conclusion as you, but from a Linux perspective. The benchmarks I've seen (for Linux) show that some applications run faster, others slower. I have the impression you'd have to check on an application by application basis if speed were that important to you.

If I had to guess I'd say 64 bit only comes into its own for video intensive applications, and then only because of the amounts of memory used.

What I'd like to see contrasted is the performance improvements possible when using solid state disks.

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name.

Never mind. I'm quite happy for you to believe there are no significant advantages to 64-bit OSs. I have a 64-bit processor so I use a 64-bit OS. I certainly wouldn't recommend spending extra to buy a 64-bit processor if I had a 32-bit one.

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Hi

64bit is the latest marketing to get people to upgrade to new hardware and computers, not everyone needs it.

No one said anything about people needing it, but if you got a 64bit machine and going to update then you may as well get a 64 bit OS.

If you buy a new computer it will be 64 bit, so why bother to put a 32 bit Os on it?

Pro:
The one and probably only benefit with 64bit is it can access greater than 4 Gig of memory.

Con:
64bit programs and OS use more memory, this means in order to benefit from 64bit support for memory at 4GByte or above you need more than 4GByte, say 6 or 8GByte. If you only have 4GByte of memory you are probably better off sticking with 32bit and and 4GByte of RAM, even though that only gives you around 3GByte of usable memory, this is because going to 64Bit may give you the full 4GByte of memory, but you lose the benefit of that extra 1Gig because programs use more memory running 64bit, including the OS. Factor in 32bit programs having to run in WoW and potential driver and compatibility issues with some applications, it just isn't worth it as you don't really benefit.

Performance: Because 64bit requires more memory your processor cache is effectively reduced in size as it can't cache as much as it can under 32bit, this can have a performance impact and may cancel out any other performance increases due to 64bit. In comparison tests between 64bit and 32bit using real world type tests, the performance is basically the same.

So to make the jump to 64bit you really need to have a reason to, and that reason is you have an application or real need to use more than 3GByte of RAM. There is no point upping your memory to 6GByte to justify a 64bit OS if you aren't going to use that memory, and few people have need for that much memory at the moment.

We are at a midway point for the transition from 32bit to 64bit. Microsoft and hardware manufacturers of course want us to go to 64bit as it drives sales, but the need to move to 64bit doesn't exist for most people.

If you need to ask the question "Do I go 64bit?" then you are probably a person that isn't going to benefit from it currently.

Regards

Phil

I better take this 64 bit version of windows 7 off my machine then, since it will be no good as I only got 2Gigs of ram. Maybe what you posted above may be true, I have not really gone into it that much at the moment, but my machine is runnig great with 2GB of ram and windows 7 64 bit.

Done a bit of video editing this afternoon with 64 bit editing software and it ran like a dream, sure more memory is always useful and at some point I may get some more. 32 bit software seems to run fine as well, got a old audio editing software called Cool edit 2, which is 32bit and that also runs like a dream and that is also using loads of effects.