Not exactly a discussion!

Perhaps you were reading a different thread to me. I saw an interesting exchange regarding the merits of 32- and 64-bit operating systems and whether an operating system could be considered an application or not. Any open exchange of ideas is a welcome discussion in my book.

The fact that Microsoft describe it as an operating system, which it obviously is, doesn't preclude the possibility that it might also be considered an application. Things don't always fall neatly into a single category.

Do you really think that, by itself Windows 7 does nothing? Agreed it needs a human touch but, that aside, you can do a great deal without installing any additional software. And just have a look at all the tasks that are running in the background. That's not what I'd call doing nothing.

So enlighten me. Install an OS and nothing else. What does it do?

Actually, the question asked was what app runs better/quicker using 64 compared to 32. You said the OS. Being a pedant doesn't answer the question.

I'm sure 99% of users have applications on their computers and therefore your answer isn't helpful!

Can someone name a normal everyday application that most people use (excluding Windows 7) that runs better on 64bit?

Don't get hung up on the fact that the only benefit to x64 over 32 bit is a few specific applications coded to take advantage of x64. It's much more universal than that, in the overall responsiveness of your system when running with more RAM.

It's now being proven that even making the jump from 4GB to 8GB has large benefits aswell; from the time it takes to load photos, to boot times, to the time it takes the PC to sleep and resume from sleep, to the time it takes to load games. Like most things, sooner or later you reach the point of diminishing returns of course.

Multitasking is the keyword here.

Most home users probably wouldn't be sure what you ment if you said that term to them, but they don't realise they do it all the time, just on a small scale, eg. open email, minimize, open browser, flip between the two. Now, more RAM enables the home user to do it on a larger scale, with larger programs, which for a home user are plentiful, from games, to music creation, etc etc. Having to close one demanding program just to open another evaporates into thin air - leave them open as long as you want with plenty of RAM.

Its one of those things you end up getting used to and taking for granted very quickly, for example resuming from sleep 30 seconds quicker than you did when you had less RAM. Or that extra 20 seconds you had to wait while your page file was playing catch up with the rest of the system when you closed one large program to open another. The net gain over time is monumental.

Mechanical hard drives are the biggest bottleneck in systems today. Using technology that can reduce that bottlenecks footprint are only dismissed by the inept.

More RAM, and SSD (Solid State Drives) are the biggest means available to minimize the bottleneck, the former is still a lot cheaper than the latter as of this time. x64 enables us to take advantage of these technoligical advances better than 32 bit counterparts.

Forget the garbage about x64 having longer blah instructions blah, it means absoloutely nothing in the real world.

Edited by deleted (Mon 21-Dec-09 07:19:06)

You are so right. I am a fool.

If I install Windows 7, and nothing else, then I can browse the web, play media, edit files, .... I can even download other programs if I wish to.

But I'm probably unique in this.

it means absoloutely nothing in the real world

I don't think that some here are concerned with the real world - just benchmarking an arbitrary "application".

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Hi

I still find that VS runs faster under the 64-bit OS the the 32-bit one. In fact, I find that - on my PC - almost all applications do. This is probably because the OS API is more efficient and because I can make use of all of my 4GB of memory. To say that I should ignore that factor - memory usage - seems a little artificial to me. Almost as artificial as complaining that the OS isn't an application.

Placebo effect, we've found no such thing in our company.

Also on a system with 4GByte of memory, you have less available for applications with a 64 bit OS then you would running 32bit even though you get to use only around 3.2Gig of it.

I've got 32bit and 64bit dual booting on a 4GByte machine, and the 32bit has more available memory even though it can only access 3.2Gig.

I know I will get flamed for this view, I always do as people are so blinkered over 32bit and 64bit it is untrue, so anyone who doubts me, dual boot between 64bit and 32bit with 4Gig of RAM and let me know what you find, otherwise don't bother arguing with me.

Regards

Phil

when you talk carp - then yes no one will bother with you ..