Search This Blog

13 September 2005

64-Bit Windows' Performance on Dual-Core--ExtremeTech Review

AMD 4800+ with 2GB of memory? They should know that memory is more important than processor speed. We are building a Win64 for the business (as well as a FreeBSD6) and have 4GB with AMD 3200+. Reading the second page, they did mention that:
The key to running 32-bit applications is something Microsoft dubs WOW64; WOW stands for Windows on Windows. Running 32-bit apps in x64 essentially gives each application its own 4GB of virtual memory space, which isolates it from other applications. So if one 32-bit application locks up, it only affects its memory space, not other running 32-bit apps. Windows x64 itself has a full 16TB (that's terabytes) of virtual memory address space. The downside, if you can call it that, is that you'll want to load your system up with as much memory as possible. While we used 2GB in our test systems, 4GB or even 8GB is desirable—assuming your motherboard supports it.


how to install 32-bit apps (as long as they have no 16-bit code):
On the other hand, installing and running 32-bit apps can occasionally be a chore. A 32-bit application that has any remaining 16-bit code won't run, because WOW64 doesn't support any 16-bit code. Also, 32-bit applications and 64-bit applications get their own folders. "Program Files" is reserved for 64-bit apps, while "Program Files (x86)" is for 32-bit software. This will sometimes result in strange installer behavior, as with Steam, Valve Software's game download application. Steam insisted that the parentheses in "Program Files (x86)" were illegal characters, and refused to install. You can either install Steam into a different folder (e.g., \games\valve) or change the folder name in the installer to "Progra~2\valve".


Page3... well, they are using the A8N SLI-Deluxe. We are using the A8N SLI-Premium, so the results should be fairly comparable.
They are running with 6800GT graphics, whereas we are running with dual 6600GT.
They are using a 160GB SATA drive (actually, two but dual booting one os to each disk), we are using 4x250GB SATAII drives.

No comments:

Post a Comment