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64 Bit Technology?

post #1 of 39
6/8/04 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
is 64 bit tech goning to be useful any time soon and is it worth getting now over a centrino laptop, and does it make 32 bit programs run any better or smoother, i guess im asking is should it be factor in deciding on a laptop now
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post #2 of 39
6/8/04 at 10:28am
64 bit wont really be useful until there is a 64 bit os out, an even then any 32 bit pogram will have to run in a 32 bit emulator unless you dual boot, also if it runs in an emulator it will run much slower than on an actual 32 bit os.
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post #3 of 39
6/8/04 at 10:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JESTER
is 64 bit tech goning to be useful any time soon and is it worth getting now over a centrino laptop, and does it make 32 bit programs run any better or smoother, i guess im asking is should it be factor in deciding on a laptop now
64-bit processors will run your 32-bit as well or even better then the current P-4s. Just because there isn’t any 64-bit software out, doesn’t mean that the processor is useless until then. Yeah, once software for the 64-bit comes out, its going to make it run much better, but till then you will still be happy with a 64-bit if you are concerned with power.
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post #4 of 39
6/8/04 at 10:40am
sure running on a 32 bit os, al im saying that the 64 bit OS wont give any advantages unless your software is 64 bit as well,
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post #5 of 39
6/8/04 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xxh0lywarsxx
sure running on a 32 bit os, al im saying that the 64 bit OS wont give any advantages unless your software is 64 bit as well,
Sounds like thats what he wants to know is about running 32-bit software. Either way, AMD 64 will run your stuff better then most Intel stuff.
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post #6 of 39
6/8/04 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 
thanx all, does the amd 64 get better battery life than a regular celeron or pentium, getting one for daughter to go to college and weighing the option of 64 or centrino just think she will use it more in room than toting it to class, looking at either the emachine 6809 or the dell 8600 or 600m any suggestions?
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post #7 of 39
6/8/04 at 11:32am
So why do people even get anything other than an AMD 64 if they run your stuff better than intel and are 64-bit?
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post #8 of 39
6/8/04 at 12:13pm
The main problem with the AMD 9700 combo I believe is heat production, which is where the M has another advantage. For example, Rincewinds CL56 has run higher OCed benches than any 3400+ 9700 combo M860 Voodoo I have seen. Add to this the bonus of extra battery life and you have yourself a superior notebook for probably the next 12-18months.
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post #9 of 39
6/8/04 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by donkey33
So why do people even get anything other than an AMD 64 if they run your stuff better than intel and are 64-bit?
That's a very good question that I am unable to answer. A64 runs most things faster than a P4 with a 32 bit operating system and the A64 can run 64 bit which will be very interesting by the end of the year. 64 bit Windoze, 64 bit drivers from ATI/Nvidia and 64 bit Far Cry (and Half Life 2 / Doom 3?) should be better able to handle larger maps and be 15 - 30% faster. So instead of - for example - 50fps, you should see 57.5-65.

The only real advantage P4 has is video encoding and frankly I do so little that the difference between 3 minutes and 3.2 minutes is trvial since A64 is consistantly better in games.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xxh0lywarsxx
64 bit wont really be useful until there is a 64 bit os out, an even then any 32 bit pogram will have to run in a 32 bit emulator unless you dual boot, also if it runs in an emulator it will run much slower than on an actual 32 bit os.
What is your source for that? I haven't seen anyone saying that when 64 bit windoze is released, 32 bit apps will run slower than on 32 bit winodze. In beta form today with very immature drivers, yes, but that's not the same as the full release. And, of course, even if you have to run dual boot, the A64 is still a better choice. Run 32 bit if you have to and its faster than p4 (usually) and run in 64 bit and the p4 can't even boot.
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post #10 of 39
6/8/04 at 1:14pm
The only problem with the AMD 64 is that it’s not the greatest for thin and light laptops. It is a very powerful processor, and gets pretty good battery life. But as mention earlier, it doesn’t get as great as battier life as a P-M, and I am sure it does run a bit hotter then the P-M also. It all depends what you are looking for in a laptop. To me the AMD 64 is the best of both worlds, great performance and pretty good batter life.
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post #11 of 39
6/8/04 at 1:17pm
how thin do you need your laptop? The Acer Ferrari 3200 is 1.2 inches and it's based on an A64 2800+ lol
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post #12 of 39
6/8/04 at 1:25pm
I have to add one more thing. People seem to focus too much on the AMD 64 and a 64 operating system. I am not sure if getting a 64-bit processor is a good idea if you are only doing it for the 64-bit operating system at this moment. Microsoft is HOPEFULLY launching the 64 XP soon, but then you are looking at drivers for most of your hardware, as well as software. Granted, most companies are also going to release drivers probably around the same time as the 64 XP, but how reliable those early releases are going to be is the question. Even with all that said, I would still go with the AMD 64. It is still a powerhouse with 32-bit application and in six months or so when all the bugs are worked out on the software side, it will probably be a super powerhouse.
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post #13 of 39
6/8/04 at 2:56pm
I would go with the AMD64 also, simply because it is a faster 32bit chip than the P4.
That said, about the transition from 32bit to 64bit software. Win64 will have 32bit mode for legacy drivers. 32bit apps will run more slowly on a 64bit OS than on 32bit, but the difference will not be very noticible.
Also, this is not like the transition from 16bit to 32bit from a programmers perspective. Back then games had to write drivers for all of the hardware they intended to use. This meant transitionning from 16bit to 32bit meant rewriting all the old 16bit drivers for the new 32bit world. With the advent of DirectX Windows controls the interface to gaming hardware. This means that games do not write their own drivers for hardware anymore. Therefore, all that is required to go from 32bit to 64bit is a change in compiler settings, and possibly, depending on your coding style, some changes to the code.
I would imagine most companies, especially gaming companies, are making all newer games 32bit and 64bit compatible with a simple recompile (no guarantees, just what I think).
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post #14 of 39
6/8/04 at 2:57pm
I think the main point here is that even though 64-bit processors have fewer advantages now, your laptop will last longer if you get it with a 64-bit processor now, in case 64-bit applications and operating systems do become dominant.
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post #15 of 39
6/8/04 at 3:22pm
Why would you compare the AMD64 to the P4??? The P4 is a POS processor. If you want to compare the AMD64 chip to something make it the Pentium M. P4 has nothing against the AMD64. The P4 has longer pipelines, more heat, and it does less stuff in one cycle than the AMD or PM.
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post #16 of 39
6/8/04 at 3:25pm
for a college student a p-m is probably better, especially with the only mobile (low power) athlon 64 in the ferrari, which in a college environment where theft is a problem stands out too much, and also only comes with a 4200rpm hard drive (which does affect performance for common computing tasks like word processing and boot up time). p-m's are lighter and have longer battery life

also, for word processing, wifi, web surfing, etc. 64 bit will not matter

as far as gaming goes, since the graphics card is the bottleneck anyway, and upgradable graphics cards in low power athlon 64s will not be around probably until november at least
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post #17 of 39
6/8/04 at 3:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiwaz
The only problem with the AMD 64 is that it’s not the greatest for thin and light laptops. It is a very powerful processor, and gets pretty good battery life. But as mention earlier, it doesn’t get as great as battier life as a P-M, and I am sure it does run a bit hotter then the P-M also. It all depends what you are looking for in a laptop. To me the AMD 64 is the best of both worlds, great performance and pretty good batter life.
I'm not too sure about that. The A64-m (like in the Ferrari) is supposed to be thermally close to the P4-m (p3?). I haven't seen any real good specific reports yet though, so I am only passing on theories.
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post #18 of 39
6/8/04 at 3:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ratm1992
for a college student a p-m is probably better, especially with the only mobile (low power) athlon 64 in the ferrari, which in a college environment where theft is a problem stands out too much, and also only comes with a 4200rpm hard drive (which does affect performance for common computing tasks like word processing and boot up time). p-m's are lighter and have longer battery life

also, for word processing, wifi, web surfing, etc. 64 bit will not matter

as far as gaming goes, since the graphics card is the bottleneck anyway, and upgradable graphics cards in low power athlon 64s will not be around probably until november at least

uh huh.......ummmmm.....yeah , i agree with everything and what everyone has said so far, great team work! hehehe **sarcasim**

thought i'd just throw in my opinion too
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post #19 of 39
6/8/04 at 3:42pm
You can always upgrade the HD if that bothers you too much, and get personal contents insurance and a notebook lock

Quote:
Originally Posted by ratm1992
for a college student a p-m is probably better, especially with the only mobile (low power) athlon 64 in the ferrari, which in a college environment where theft is a problem stands out too much, and also only comes with a 4200rpm hard drive (which does affect performance for common computing tasks like word processing and boot up time). p-m's are lighter and have longer battery life

also, for word processing, wifi, web surfing, etc. 64 bit will not matter

as far as gaming goes, since the graphics card is the bottleneck anyway, and upgradable graphics cards in low power athlon 64s will not be around probably until november at least
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post #20 of 39
6/8/04 at 6:43pm
I have purchased a handful of the compaq R3000Z for customers with AMD 64Bit cpus, and they seem to run, pretty fast compared with P4. The price vs. performance is pretty good.
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