Re: windows 64 vs 32 bit
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg108299] Re: windows 64 vs 32 bit
- From: David Bailey <dave at removedbailey.co.uk>
- Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:55:12 -0500 (EST)
- References: <hndb3r$df1$1@smc.vnet.net>
becko BECKO wrote: > I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I can't think of any better. Would I gain some performance with Mathematica if I installed 64bit windows 7? I have a quad-processor, but only 2 gb ram, so I am not sure. Thanks. > > The big advantage of 64-bit Windows, is that it has an enormous virtual address space of approx 1.8 x 10^19 bytes, unlike 32-bit windows, which has a theoretical maximum address space of approx 4 x 10^9. In practice, this means that memory can be used more effectively. The Windows version of Mathematica has both 32 and 64 bit versions within it, so after switching to 64-bit Windows, you would only need to re-use your existing install disk. Of course, the real gains from 64-bits come when you install more memory, which can be exploited in 64-bit mode by a single hungry application, whereas in 32-bit mode each process reaches a limit as to how much memory it can use. Although the address space limit in 32-bit mode is 4 x 10^9, in practice the limit is much lower. This is because the operating system itself uses up part of this address space, and also the address space tends to become fragmented. I think it would probably be worth a try, but why not install some more RAM, then the choice would be obvious! David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk