What are the advantages of a 64-bit processor?

64-bit cpu
Mason Wheeler picture Mason Wheeler · Mar 3, 2009 · Viewed 36.6k times · Source

Obviously, a 64-bit processor has a 64-bit address space, so you have more than 4 GB of RAM at your disposal. Does compiling the same program as 64-bit and running on a 64-bit CPU have any other advantages that might actually benefit programs that aren't enormous memory hogs?

I'm asking about CPUs in general, and Intel-compatible CPUs in particular.

Answer

Sean picture Sean · Mar 3, 2009

There's a great article on Wikipedia about the differences and benefits of 64bit Intel/AMD cpus over their 32 bit versions. It should have all the information you need.

Some on the key differences are:

  • 16 general purpose registers instead of 8
  • Additional SSE registers
  • A no execute (NX) bit to prevent buffer overrun attacks

Related questions

How do I register a DLL file on Windows 7 64-bit?

I have tried to use the following code: cd c:\windows\system32 regsvr32.exe dllname.ax But this is not working for me. How can I register a DLL file on Windows 7 with a 64-bit processor?

Read More
How can I tell if I'm running in 64-bit JVM or 32-bit JVM (from within a program)?

How can I tell if the JVM in which my application runs is 32 bit or 64-bit? Specifically, what functions or properties I can used to detect this within the program?

Read More
"An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format" even when the platforms are the same

I'm calling functions from a 32-bit unmanaged DLL on a 64-bit system. What I get is: BadImageFormatException: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B) At first, I had my projects …

Read More