benifit of 64 bit cpu?

i kinda didnt keep up with this stuff so whats the benfits of a 64 bit cpu .i got a amd 3000 64 cpu on a socket 754. are there any benifits?what are they?so far i ran super pi 1 meg test and it does it in 39 seeconds but thats overclcoked

If you believe the marketing hype, x86-64 processors execute 32-bit code more efficiently than x86-32 processors (supposedly they use that extra bus bandwidth to run more instructions per clock).

Other than that... future compatibility with native 64-bit code is a benefit.

I just ran the SuperPI test on my computer (AMD 64 3500+ socket 939) to 1 million decimal places. Took mine 40 seconds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

There are a few other advantages even when running 32 bit code. In theory, the max hard disc size for 32 bit is approx 120 Gig, which sounds huge until you realize that they are readily available at Fry's electronics, and a computer used as a personal video player (with videos stored on the hard drive) would be very cool and take up lots of space.

64 bit also can access a huge amount of RAM (terabytes) while 32 bit is I think limited to 4 gig. Once again, it sounds like a lot today, but I remember saying "why would I ever need more than 64 K or RAM ?" (and no, I am not Bill Gates, but same mistake in logic)

If I was in the market for a new computer, why would I buy a 32 bit CPU when 64 bit is available. I made this mistake in the past as well with the 386sx.

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To be more concise:

Current 32 bit systems can address more than 4GB of physical memory; through PAE (physical address extensions, introduced on the Pentium Pro) they can address 64GB of physical memory (36 bits), albiet much slower. However, processes are still limited to 4GB of virtual address space each.

Addressing large hard disks has nothing to do with 64-bit CPUs.

The real advantage comes from an individual process having more than 4GB of virutal address space. For one thing, you can open many large memory-mapped files. You can also open memory-mapped files that are larger than 2GB each without exhausing your virtual address space. Memory-mapped files are easier to access than by reading through streams, and can be more efficient.

Also, as DrJ said, 64 bit integer arithmetic operations will be faster. The best example of this is in crypto applications, where a 64-bit version of an algorithm can be 4-5 times faster than the 32-bit equivelant - since lots of crypto applications do operations on large integers.

I have to wonder about a 120G limit on HD since my Athlon XP HP 'puter came with 200G...

I understand Micro*oft is about to release a 64bit OPSYS.

Windows XP 64-bit has been around a while, but I think it was compiled for Intel's IA-64 instruction set, not x86-64. I also believe its distribution was limited to high-end CAD/graphics workstations from HP.

i just downloaded the fedora redhat 64 bit os 2.7 gigs ill try it tonight if i get around to it

Ive seen many techology come and go, mmx, pentinum pro, mmx2, etc, etc. Seems unless the code is written for the hardware, its dead weight.