new computer

[Lord Sauron]

On 12/4/06, Grumpy_Penguin <grumpypenguin at qwest.net> wrote:
> On Monday 04 December 2006 12:28, Thomas Sperre wrote:
> > Måndag 04 desember 2006 01:46 skreiv Grumpy_Penguin:
> > > Currently there is no significant advantage to using a 64 bit OS although
> > > this will rapidly change
> >
> > This is just not true, it depends completely on what you are trying to do
> > with the computer. If you want to run memory intensive calculations then
> > yes a 64 bit OS is a significant advantage, in fact the only thing that
> > makes it possible if meory requirement exceeds approx 2-3 Gb (depending on
> > application memory management issues).
> Give me a real world example.
> I admit high end video processing will eat up a lot of RAM and processor
> time ...but my copy of mymia is still optimized for a 32 bit processor it
> runs somewhat faster on my 64 bit box [2.2 gig Athlon 64 X2 but not a lot

Real world example?  Okay, you asked for it.

Calculating fractals (higher precision is a huge help) and
high-precision computations (ie. running a calculator).  The
advantages of a 64-bit processor only really begin to kick in when you
start to use stuff like compilers, image editors, video processing,
and other things like that.  Basically it's just the stuff which
involves a bunch of numbers.  F/I, I used 64-bit technology to
increase my precision in calculating the values of Pascal's Triangle
by two (switching from a 32-bit integer to a 64-bit integer - I was
very happy with myself.)  True, the 64-bit integers still work on
32-bit platforms, but:
o each addition/subtraction operation takes 2x as long
o each multiplication/division operation takes 4x as long

I love 64-bit technology.  It's the coolest thing to me.  I love
reving up my Athlon 64, beating out some 64-bit code in KDevelop, and
watching it fly.  However, if you're just going to read your email and
browse the web, I'd go with something like a AMD Athlon64, not one of
the X2's.  The 64's are cheap, insanely effective, and they're not
prone to most of the problems that Intel chips are (my dad had to
write a CPU bugfix for a Intel Pentium II that would give numbers when
you divided by zero!).  In addition, if you go with some of the really
cool ultra-low profile, ultra-cool ITX/Nano ITX/Mini ATX boards/chips
they're coming out with, you can save a lot of power.  They're cool.
(no pun intended)

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