What's the difference between a 32- and 64-bit client?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-11-2012 @ 1:55PM

icepyro said...

" whereas the amount a 64-bit system can use is almost unlimited."

For those interested, 64-bit means a theoretical max of 16 exabytes. For those keeping track at home, that's 16,777,216 GB. Needless to say, technology isn't even ready to comprehend the end of life of 64bit, much less actually reach it.

64bit Windows runs 32bit programs in a kind of compatibility mode, much like how it runs compatibility for old programs. It is much better than the actual compatibility mode, but it is still different dlls and everything so sometimes there are bugs and those are slower to be resolved.

So for efficiency, the only conceivable reason to run the 32bit client when a 64bit one is available is because you have so much other stuff that the 32bit client even has issues running to its full potential or that Blizzard doesn't know how to make a 64bit program worth anything. Then again, if either of those is the issue, you should probably upgrade your RAM anyways and just call it a day.

1-11-2012 @ 2:03PM

icepyro said...

Wait, I think I'm missing multiple. that should be TB, not GB... it goes GB then TB, then PB (petabytes), then EB (exabytes).

I think by the time we are comprehending EB efficiently, it will be difficult to understand how Bill Gates ever said "640k was enough for anybody" or something to that effect.

1-11-2012 @ 4:51PM

MassivelyFTW said...

Actually it is limited by what version of Windows 7 64-bit you are using...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

1-11-2012 @ 8:17PM

icepyro said...

I was referring to the theoretical max of a true 64bit memory addressing. As I said, technology isn't even ready to comprehend the entirety of it, much less actually use it.

Thanks for the links though, it's nice to know we are up to using 52 of those 64 bits.

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