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is a program supposed to run faster when it is built for x64 system?

i can configure my visual studio to build programs targeting 64bit
windows, but if i do not write any code different from those in 32bit
program, is there supposed to be any difference in performance?

and also, what benefits do developers get? 64bit integer? any
differences in float point computation?

--
Echevil

Echevil wrote:
> is a program supposed to run faster when it is built for x64 system?
>
> i can configure my visual studio to build programs targeting 64bit
> windows, but if i do not write any code different from those in 32bit
> program, is there supposed to be any difference in performance?
>
> and also, what benefits do developers get? 64bit integer? any
> differences in float point computation?
>

I am not a programmer, (besides some perl and scripting) so I may not
know what I am talking about. However from what I understand is some
programs like multimedia applications and others will benifite from the
64 bit integers. Also even if you do not write code differnently some
programs may also benifite from 64 bit because the cpu has 2x the amount
of registers, and the compiler may be optimized to use those.


It would be interesting to do some test, and see how the 32 bit versions
compaired to the 64 bit version in performance.

This isn't really a programmer's group, but I can answer your questions in a
general way.

Will there be a difference in performance between a 64bit and a 32bit
program? Will depend on the program, but generally yes. The x64 processor is
more efficient, has more (and larger) registers, and uses a different
floating point set of registers and instructions entirely. Plus, of course,
the ability to directly address 8 TB of virtual memory address space. Even
for programs that aren't memory address constrained, the new and wider
registers can make a dramatic difference in some applications. For example,
take a look at: http://www.cakewalk.com/x64/whitepaper.asp


--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64

Echevil wrote:
> is a program supposed to run faster when it is built for x64 system?
>
> i can configure my visual studio to build programs targeting 64bit
> windows, but if i do not write any code different from those in 32bit
> program, is there supposed to be any difference in performance?
>
> and also, what benefits do developers get? 64bit integer? any
> differences in float point computation?