What are 64-bit computers?

Question

What makes them so special?

Answer 1

64 bit computers have processors that can process 64 bits of data at once. A standard Pentium 4 processor is only a 32 bit processor. 64 bit computers can handle more demanding programs because the processor can handle double the data at one time. A good way to look at it is comparing the graphics of PlayStation 1 verses an Xbox 360. An Xbox 360 has a much stronger processor.

Answer 2

Microprcessors are the components that are the heart of PC's. These components read instructions from a program and operate on data. Data, such as sound files, video files and the like are represented in the computer by a number of 1's and 0's.

The number of 1's and 0's that a microprocessor can work with at a given time is identified by the number of bits in the data bus. The data bus is sort of like a highway leading into and out of the microprocessor. The more lanes, the more data the processor can handle at a given time.

The first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004 could handle 4 bits, and was a 4-bit microprocessor. Then came the 8008 and so on up to the new 64-bit processors. The 4004 could handle numbers up to 16 on its data bus as the binary number 1111 is the equivalent of 16. An 8-bit microprocessor would have a limit of 256. 16 bit processors, 65535. Just raise 2 to the number of bits, subtract 1, and that tells you the largest number that the processor can directly represent.

One of the reasons this is important is that with a larger number of data bits, greater flexibility in the way the processor handles data is available. For example, if a 4-bit processor wanted to add 15 + 15, it would have to go through a number of manipulations, as it could not add them directly. With 64-bit processors, very large numbers can be handled directly. It also improves the speed of rendering images as the processor can handle the R-G-B compnents directly (graphics cards do this, but if you are working with graphics manipulation software, making videos, and that sort of thing, the processor will be faster than a 32-bit machine.

Basically, more bits means more horsepower.

The drawback is that 32 bit software will likely not see performance increases other than those gained by processor speed, as the software doesn't know about the extra 32 bits. The programs themselves will still go through the manipulations that they would have with a 32-bit processor. This is because the software is responsible for placing and getting the data from the registers in the computer. The software only knows about those 32 bits.

Newer software will take advantage of all 64-bits. MS Vista is a 64-bit operating system that utilizes the features of the 64-bit processor, and software written for Vista should be 64-bit compatible.

Hope this helps,

--Dee

Answer 3

In this case, we're talking about the number of bits the computer uses to address memory locations. Windows 3.1 used 16 bit addressing. Remember that 8 bits is 1 byte. So, each memory address could only be 2 bytes long. This limited the amount of memory that could be addressed. When Windows 95 was produced, the addressing increased to 32 bits or 4 bytes. Now, a 64 bit or 8 byte addressing system allows even more memory to be addressed. Memory must have an address for the computer to access it. Naturally, the more memory that is accessible for use, the larger the programs you can run and the faster it will run them.

Answer 4

The processor works on 64 bits at a time instead of 32 bits. They do things a whole lot faster.

That is over simplified, but basically.