what is the difference between a 32 bit and 64 bit windows????

 

Click: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/32-bit-64-bit-faq.aspx

 

This will apply to any OS. The difference between 32 bit and 64 bit OS is the amount of RAM that it can address (in other words, use). 32 bit OS can use approximately 3.5 GBs of RAM, even though you may have 4 or more GBs of ram in the computer. 64 bit can use something like 192 GBs of RAM, effectively more than we have available today for consumers. Does that answer your question?

If you have 4 or more GBs of RAM and you want to utilize all the memory, use a 64bit OS.

 

so it means that an x bit processor has abilty to manipulate x bit data by its alu.......
and an x bit o.s has capability of connecting 2^x bytes ram with it

 

so it means that an x bit processor has abilty to manipulate x bit data by its alu.......
and an x bit o.s has capability of connecting 2^x bytes ram with it

Ok, I'm sort of confused by your question. Your original question was regarding the difference between 32bit and 64bit Windows (an operating system). But this question is regarding microprocessors also.

So a 8-bit microprocessor has a the ability to process 8-bits of data in 1 clock cycle, but it has the ability to work with 16-bit data. I know that the Atmel AVRs can do that, specifically the ATMEGAs like an ATMEGA168.

And the X bit OS has the ability to address 2^X bytes of RAM. So correct.

Does that make sense?

 

Hello,

Also keep in mind that a lot of software written for 32 bit will not work on a 64 bit operating system.
To have full benefit of the 64 bit, the 64 bit version of the software should be used.

Bertus

 

Hello,

Also keep in mind that a lot of software written for 32 bit will not work on a 64 bit operating system.
To have full benefit of the 64 bit, the 64 bit version of the software should be used.

Bertus

That is sort of true. For the full benefit of 64bit, I agree that you need to use 64 bit software. But you don't need to run completely all 64bit software. This is specifically related to Windows 7 and Linux. I do not have enough experience with Mac OSX to confirm this. From my research for my gf's computer, OSX handles 64bit very differently and still confuses me to this day. Windows 7 and Linux can run 32 bit software in a 64 bit environment. Typically they do it through a wrapper, by providing the 32 bit libraries. Windows XP 64-bit is absolutely horrible attempt at 64-bit mostly because all the software that I had to run on there failed most of the time and was more trouble than it was worth. So if you want a 64bit OS with good 32bit support, go either Windows 7 or an updated Linux x64 bit OS. Again, not enough experience with OSX for me to confirm it, but if someone else wants to let us know how OSX handles it, I'll be happy to learn.

 

Clearly the difference is 32 bits.

 

Ok, I'm sort of confused by your question. Your original question was regarding the difference between 32bit and 64bit Windows (an operating system). But this question is regarding microprocessors also.

So a 8-bit microprocessor has a the ability to process 8-bits of data in 1 clock cycle, but it has the ability to work with 16-bit data. I know that the Atmel AVRs can do that, specifically the ATMEGAs like an ATMEGA168.

And the X bit OS has the ability to address 2^X bytes of RAM. So correct.

Does that make sense?

yup............ i have the same thing in my mind......... thanx

 

It actually gets a bit more complicated. A 32bit processor can access far more than 2^32 bytes of RAM.
8 bit processors certainly have no problem accessing more than 256 bytes of RAM, some had 128k and maybe more.
This explains the mess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_GB_barrier

 

The number is amazing for 32 bits - 2,147,483,648 individual addresses. That may not be greater than all the available memory on the planet, but a 64 bit address is certainly so.

 

So I was looking briefly into how OSX handles 64bit, and it is a little interesting. Here is the article that I was reading: http://macperformanceguide.com/SnowLeopard-64bit.html . Looks like OSX defaults into 32 bit mode unless the user specifically tells the OS to boot into 64bit mode. Apple decided this method to give users the ability to test 64bit compatibility with their current software while still retaining the ability to go back to 32bit mode. Windows and Linux, as stated earlier, go into default 64bit mode (if 64bit version was installed) and use a 32bit wrapper if the software does not properly run in 64bit mode. Looks like OSX users have to do some special file hack to have the system always boot into 64bit mode.