Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Please briefly explain why you feel this question should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported.
Why some people think that 64-bit architectures are no better than 32-bit architectures unless the computer has more than 4 GB RAM? What is so particular about 4 GB?
It’s because they don’t understand the other advantages of x86 64-bit operating systems such as effectively unlimited virtual memory and additional general-purpose registers.
The reason 4GB is a “magic number” is that without PAE, 32-bit x86 operating systems can’t address more than 4GB of physical memory. Even with PAE, processes running on 32-bit x86 operating systems can’t address more than 4GB of virtual memory at a time (and typically only 2GB or 3GB) which is more of a problem if you have that much physical memory.
Also, under comparable conditions, a 64-bit operating system running 64-bit applications will need more memory than a 32-bit operating system running 32-bit applications. With 2GB or less, this can be a significant disadvantage of 64-bit operating systems. With 3GB-4GB, it can cancel out the advantages of a 64-bit OS.