What is the difference between a 32-bit and 64-bit processor?

Posted by JJG on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by JJG
Published on 2010-12-29T09:27:27Z Indexed on 2010/12/29 9:54 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 298

Filed under:

64bit

|

Hardware

|

32bit-64bit

|

32bit

|

processors

I have been trying to read up on 32-bit and 64-bit processors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32-bit_processing). My understanding is that a 32-bit processor (like x86) has registers 32-bits wide. I'm not sure what that means. So it has special "memory spaces" that can store integer values up to 2^32?

I don't want to sound stupid, but I have no idea about processors. I'm assuming 64-bits is, in general, better than 32-bits. Although my computer now (one year old, Win 7, Intel Atom) has a 32-bit processor.

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about 64bit

How do I install Geomatica?

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I wanted to try the latest version(trial) of Geomatica, Geomatica 2012 on Ubuntu 11.10 beta. When I tried to run the bin file I got a whole list of dependencies. It also seems that it is a RPM package. Instead of going through each entry manually, is there any easy way to search and install a list… >>> More
Java 64bit install throwing non compatible 64bit error in 64bit Windows 7

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
JRE and JDK 64bit install executable are throwing a non compatible win32 error: jre_7u1_windows-x64bit.exe is not a valid Win32 application. I thought this could be a system environment variable problem, but from what I can tell it is not, the variable PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE is set as: AMD64 and… >>> More
ColdFusion 9 64bit / MAMP Pro 1.9 64Bit on OSX

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I followed this thread and it's associated links. But there is nothing i can do to get CF9 to work. MAMP Pro now has the 64bit version of apache 2.2. Whenever i start apache i get an error saying it couldn't start and to check the logs. i check the logs and this is what i see. 6/1/10 12:39:12 PM… >>> More
Using Toad with 64bit Oracle Client and Windows 7 64bit Operating System

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
After downloading the latest version of Toad for Windows 7 64bit, I am struggling to get it to connect to the database using the existing full Oracle Client that is already on the desktop. The Oracle Client that is there is a 64bit version and is version 12c. When running Toad it says that there is… >>> More
how to find if the machine is 32bit or 64bit

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there anyway from a C prog to find whether the OS is currently running in 32bit or 64bit mode. I am using a simple program as below int main(void){ switch(sizeof(void*)){ case 4: printf("32\n"); break; case 8: printf("64\n"); break; } } Is this a correct… >>> More

Related posts about Hardware

Older SAS1 hardware Vs. newer SAS2 hardware

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
I got a question today from someone asking about the older SAS1 hardware from over a year ago that we had on the older 7x10 series. They didn't leave an email so I couldn't respond directly, but I said this blog would be blunt, frank, and open so I have no problem addressing it publicly. A quick… >>> More
Installer Reboots at "Detecting hardware" (disks and other hardware) on all recent Server Installs

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have a very frustrating problem with my PC. I cannot install any recent version of Ubuntu Server (or even Desktop) since 9.04 even using the text-based installer. I boot from a USB stick created by Unetbootin (I also tried other methods such as startup disk creator with no difference). On the Server… >>> More
Difference between "machine hardware" and "hardware platform"

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
My Linux machine reports "uname -a" outputs as below:- [root@tom i386]# uname -a Linux tom 2.6.9-89.ELsmp #1 SMP Mon Apr 20 10:34:33 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux [root@tom i386]# As per man page of uname, the entries "i686 i686 i386" denotes:- machine hardware name (i686) processor type (i686) hardware… >>> More
Remove hardware from "safely remove hardware" list on Windows 7

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi, I have a USB wifi card (D-Link DWA-125) on a Windows 7 x64 computer. The problem is that the card appears on the "safely remove hardware" list, but I don't ever want to unplug it, so I would like to remove it from the list. So far I have only found solutions that mess with the registry (and… >>> More
Windows 7 Not Recognizing Any Hardware, Linux Recognizing Hardware

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have a new desktop computer with two SSDs: one running Linux Mint 15 (SSD1), the other running Windows 7 (SSD2). My mint runs perfectly - USB wireless adapter is recognized, SSD2 (connected by SATA) is recognized and accessible through the filesystem, Ethernet works, etc. However, my Windows 7… >>> More