Discussion
Is it really worth the bother?
Half the stuff i use is 32b, VPN to work is 32b only.
Work lappy is i7 8Gb and is slower than my home core duo 2Gb. (Cirix so allegedly don't need the VPN which is 10x faster).
At work we were upgraded to Win7 64, 8gb 3.0 quad core. Used it briefly and plugged my old dual core 4Gb legacy box back in as it's so much quicker.
So what is the bonus? Yes you can add s
t loads of RAM but otherwise? Is it actually quicker on anything apart from games and CAD?
Half the stuff i use is 32b, VPN to work is 32b only.
Work lappy is i7 8Gb and is slower than my home core duo 2Gb. (Cirix so allegedly don't need the VPN which is 10x faster).
At work we were upgraded to Win7 64, 8gb 3.0 quad core. Used it briefly and plugged my old dual core 4Gb legacy box back in as it's so much quicker.
So what is the bonus? Yes you can add s
t loads of RAM but otherwise? Is it actually quicker on anything apart from games and CAD?We are really only talk windows everything else has been 64 bit for ages. I would just go with whatever you've been given. Unless an application has been optimised for 64bit you won't notice the difference.
For 90% of a applications it will make no difference.
I would be surprised to find a newer laptop to be slower than an old one depending on age.
Two lap tops back went from XP to Win 7 64 bit, had to be 64 bit to use 8gb RAM. If was loads faster but then it was three years newer.
I would be checking that it is what it is supposed to be and what it is running
Having said that, one of our office quad core lapies runs like a dog, user reckons it's the disc
For 90% of a applications it will make no difference.
I would be surprised to find a newer laptop to be slower than an old one depending on age.
Two lap tops back went from XP to Win 7 64 bit, had to be 64 bit to use 8gb RAM. If was loads faster but then it was three years newer.
I would be checking that it is what it is supposed to be and what it is running
Having said that, one of our office quad core lapies runs like a dog, user reckons it's the disc
Edited by supersport on Wednesday 23 July 07:59
FlossyThePig said:
The_Burg said:
Work lappy is i7 8Gb and is slower than my home core duo 2Gb.
How are you measuring the speed?What are you using the two systems for?
Works laptop is an i5, 8gig ram, shared graphics ... and a 32bit OS (Win7). It runs like a dog, it can't access half of its memory. In this case 64 bit would make a huge difference.
Home laptop is an i7, 8gig ram, 1gig discrete graphics, 64 bit Win7. Runs absolutely brilliant.
Support of 32-bit applications in the 64-bit Windows environment
Based on this, 32bit apps running on 64bit Windows should suffer a minimal performance penalty. (less available ram will of course make a difference though!)
But as somebody mentioned above - they found an older box running 32bit to feel quicker - I have often thought this to be the case too. Looking back to older Windows versions (64bit XP) - I seem to recall 32bit apps running distinctly slower than on a native 32 bit O/S (all things being equal - ram / gpu etc.). I think this was something to do with 'context switching' (or 'thunking') or some such phrase!
Based on this, 32bit apps running on 64bit Windows should suffer a minimal performance penalty. (less available ram will of course make a difference though!)
But as somebody mentioned above - they found an older box running 32bit to feel quicker - I have often thought this to be the case too. Looking back to older Windows versions (64bit XP) - I seem to recall 32bit apps running distinctly slower than on a native 32 bit O/S (all things being equal - ram / gpu etc.). I think this was something to do with 'context switching' (or 'thunking') or some such phrase!
paragraph said:
Different processor architectures have a bit different WoW64. For example, the 64-bit Windows version developed for Intel Itanium 2 processor employs WoW64 to emulate x86 instructions. This emulation is rather resource-intensive in comparison to WoW64 for Intel 64 architecture because the system has to switch from the 64-bit mode to compatibility mode when executing 32-bit programs.
WoW64 on Intel 64 (AMD64 / x64) does not require instruction emulation. In this case the WoW64 subsystem emulates only the 32-bit environment through an additional layer between a 32-bit application and the 64-bit Windows API. In some places this layer is thin, in others a bit thicker. For an average program, you may expect 2% performance penalty because of this layer. For some programs, it can be larger. Two per cent is not very much but keep in mind that 32-bit applications work a bit slower under the 64-bit Windows than in the 32-bit environment.
Compilation of 64-bit code does not only allow you to avoid using WoW64 but also gives you an additional performance gain. This is explained by architectural modifications in the microprocessor such as an increased number of general-purpose registers. For an average program, you may expect a 5-15% performance gain after mere recompilation.
WoW64 on Intel 64 (AMD64 / x64) does not require instruction emulation. In this case the WoW64 subsystem emulates only the 32-bit environment through an additional layer between a 32-bit application and the 64-bit Windows API. In some places this layer is thin, in others a bit thicker. For an average program, you may expect 2% performance penalty because of this layer. For some programs, it can be larger. Two per cent is not very much but keep in mind that 32-bit applications work a bit slower under the 64-bit Windows than in the 32-bit environment.
Compilation of 64-bit code does not only allow you to avoid using WoW64 but also gives you an additional performance gain. This is explained by architectural modifications in the microprocessor such as an increased number of general-purpose registers. For an average program, you may expect a 5-15% performance gain after mere recompilation.
Edited by TonyRPH on Wednesday 23 July 09:57
I have not really notice any major speed difference running 64bit or 32bit on computer. I have been running 64 bit at home for years, but 32bit at work until last year. What I have noticed is the work PCs seem slow (large corporation) - I suspect because of the rubbish anti-virus and monitoring stuff and I am not convinced on the quality of their install (getting best drivers etc.).
We run a mix of Win7 32 & 64 bit PCs at $WORK as we have some 'heritage' programs that only work on 32bit Windows.
For general work use there's no practical difference in speed.
For programs needing lots of memory (database, tomcat application servers, photo editing) then having a 64bit OS and lots of RAM makes a huge difference.
Our 64bit database server has 32GB RAM for example.
For general work use there's no practical difference in speed.
For programs needing lots of memory (database, tomcat application servers, photo editing) then having a 64bit OS and lots of RAM makes a huge difference.
Our 64bit database server has 32GB RAM for example.
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