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View Poll Results: Which Linux Architecture Do You Use?
Alpha
2
0.38%
ARM
83
15.69%
MIPS
3
0.57%
Power
1
0.19%
PowerPC
11
2.08%
SPARC
3
0.57%
x86_32
214
40.45%
x86_64
434
82.04%
Other
9
1.70%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 529. You may not vote on this poll
"but at the moment it seems the benefit of the 64 bit versions are generally outweighed by the drawbacks."
This is BS. There are no drawbacks for 64 bit as of today. It can run any 32 bit program also. So there is no reason to still use 32 bit distros. Besides I usually have atleast 32 GB on my systems and 32 bit can't handle so much RAM. It can barely handle 4GB.
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
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Originally Posted by maples
I wonder how long it will be until a poll like this needs an option for a 128-bit CPU? Does it even exist yet?
Not to say that there won't be but remember that one of the reasons for 64 bit processors was that 32 bit processors only allow each process to access ~3.5GB at a time which was beginning to be a limitation in some areas. 64 bit processors, on the other hand, can theoretically address 16 exibytes -- a number so big I had to look it up on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exbibyte
Of course, should people find that 64 bit registers aren't large enough for some future applications it may be that 128 processors find a use.
I wonder how long it will be until a poll like this needs an option for a 128-bit CPU? Does it even exist yet?
It depends on how you define 128-bit CPU. The first CPUs with 128 bit wide registers (but not address-range) were introduced in 1970s and modern CPUs also have such large registers in some specialized units, like SSE. CPUs with AVX units (and some without, like the Loongson 3B) even can have 256 bit wide registers. The planned Loongson 3C will even have a bit wide vector extension.
It depends on how you define 128-bit CPU. The first CPUs with 128 bit wide registers (but not address-range) were introduced in 1970s and modern CPUs also have such large registers in some specialized units, like SSE. CPUs with AVX units (and some without, like the Loongson 3B) even can have 256 bit wide registers. The planned Loongson 3C will even have a bit wide vector extension.
In that case, what defines a 64-bit CPU from a 32-bit CPU?
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
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Originally Posted by TobiSGD
64 bit wide integer registers, (thoretically) 64 bit wide address bus. In the case of x86/x86_64 it also means more registers.
I wonder when we'll see the first 64 bit wide address bus.
I can't find the references now but don't some GPUs have EDF bit registers (I may be imagining it)?
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
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Originally Posted by TobiSGD
Never heard of that. If you find a link to information about that please post it here.
My apologies it was typed on my phone and I meant 256 bit registers, I think this hints at it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133468
I thought I'd seen 128 bit registers mentioned for my old 9800GTX and my current GT 640 but I may be mistaken.
My apologies it was typed on my phone and I meant 256 bit registers, I think this hints at it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133468
I thought I'd seen 128 bit registers mentioned for my old 9800GTX and my current GT 640 but I may be mistaken.
Ah, I see. You are mixing up register size with the size of the memory connection. The card you linked to has a 256 bit wide connection to the memory, but not 256 bit wide registers.
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Which architecture?
