Whats tha difference between a 32 bit operating system and a 64 bit operating system ?

Question

Whats tha difference between a 32 bit operating system and a 64 bit operating system ?

Answer 1

32 has 4 total GB's of address space and 64 has tons more room i think 128TB's of space.

Answer 2

In a nut-shell, the amount of memory it can access.

A 32 bit operating system is limited to 4GB of ram (although due to windows' design, 32bit windows is actually limited to about 3.2 GB of ram.)

A 64 bit OS's memory limitations is MUCH larger... I forgot now exactly, but it's WAAAYYY beyond Terrabyte ranges.  Ranges that are really inconceivable with today's technology.

In reality there HUGE differences in the basic operating system, making for incompatabilities in hardware drivers, software, etc...  windows has a "32bit compatability layer" that it uses ot run 32 bit windows program in the 64 bit versions of vista and XP which allow *most* 32 bit programs to run, but not 32 bit device drivers.  Not all hardware manufacturers make 64 bit windows drivers for their hardware.

Answer 3

There are a few differences between the two types. x64 can run twice as many colours than x32, giving a much better looking image than you would be used to. Also, performance-wise, x64 is much faster than x32, and the difference is immediately noticeable. Besides that, on an x32 system, the max amount of RAM that can be installed is 4GB, whereas on Vista Ultimate x64, you can have 128GB.

The main disadvantage of x64 (on XP mainly though) was that alot of programs still aren't compatible, deciding to stay with x32 for a little while longer. But seeing as Vista is primarily an x64 system, that problem won't be around much longer.

Hope that helps=]