On Nov 24, 2006, at 8:52 PM, John Celio wrote: > <snip> >> Just the IO required for the above means that a 64bit processor >> operating at the same bus speed and same clock rate as a 32bit system >> will mean slower overall operations if the data being processed does >> not require 64 bit resolution. Most things being processed do not. > > Thank God(frey)! Godders, you have no idea how much I appreciate > your clear > and concise answers on so many subjects. > > Would it be safe to say that, for the time being, buying or building a > 64bit-based system is a lot of overkill? I'm not exactly in the > market for > a new machine right now, but I plan to be in a year or so.
Thanks John. I see little point to 64bit for my present work. The G5 system I bought last March are 64 bit hardware but the only thing about the operating system that is 64 bit in normal course of use is the memory controller and process allocation components in the OS kernel, the rest is all 32bit. Applications that need and can use 64bit memory allocations and can exercise the full 64bit instruction set can be written for it: such applications are few and far between, there is no commercial software of such nature available today. There is likely some "futures" advantage to it, but if you're building a system with up to 8G RAM and a 3Ghz processor, with appropriate bus speeds etc, until those future advantages are expressed in the OS and application software that services your need, I wouldn't really worry about it too much. Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
