Re: Why do I need an AMD64?

[Jérôme Marant <jmarant@free.fr>]

Selon Alex Perry <alex.perry@qm.com>:

> First, even if you prefer to stay 32 bits right now, I still recommend
> picking a 64 bit processor and running it in 32 bit mode.  That gives
> you the option of switching over in the next year or two as your needs
> grow ... without building a whole new chassis.
>
> Second, AMD64 hardware gives you four specific features ... all of which
> are apparent in benchmarks:
> * More FP registers, which speeds up computation intensive applications
> * Lower latency to main memory, which speeds up memory intensive
> applications
> * Larger virtual address space, which speeds up database and engineering
> applications
> * Larger pointers, which slows down dynamic data structure intensive
> applications by 3%
> The increases caused by the first three bullets usually compensate for
> the last bullet ... sometimes dramatically.
>
> Third, given there is negligible performance downside for AMD64 use, you
> have to decide whether it is more painful to install AMD64 right now and
> get the driver/app issues resolved once, or to have to do two installs
> on one computer with the second one being when you decide to go to 64
> bit operation in a year or two.  Hope that helps.

It helps a lot. These are quite concrete arguments.
Thanks a lot.

--
Jérôme Marant