Why does 32bit feel so much faster on certain hardware?

[wirednuts]

even on current stuff, like my acer 5724z with an intel celeron... 64bit works fine, but i went to 32bit because i use this rig to work on all of my projects so compatibility is the most important thing.

losing a gb of ram i thought it would run slower... but now it feels multiple times faster then it ever has. super, super smooth and quick on the clicks, and it barely gets warm on the bottom even when watching video

i noticed the same exact thing on my moms laptop. it shipped with 64bit, but i had so many weird issues so i tried 32bit and it was a world of difference.

is it just because 64bit still isnt supported that well by software devs? why does it seem to effect certain computers and not others? its it just that they are so much faster that i dont notice it?

 

[Ketchup]

Most likely it's because the 32-bit installation doesn't have a the software (aka crap) that was slowing down the 64-bit install that came with the laptops.

The ONLY time I feel the need to use 32-bit is for older software I run on virtual machines.

 

[wirednuts]

no i always install with an oem iso...

on my htpc, it seems to not matter. its running 64bit and i never have problems. but like i said, i fought and fought with my moms laptop for a year... and it never ran like it should despite it being made for 64bit. it is an older turion x2 machine though, so maybe the drivers for it just never matured.

but then, on my aspire 5742z, its the same deal. 64 runs ok, but 32bit runs amazing. these are fresh iso install comparisons...

 

[Ketchup]

no i always install with an oem iso...

Can you clarify that? Are you saying you have a 2 ISOs (one for 64, one for 32-bit) you are using on both laptops?

 

[Ken g6]

Could be the CPU cache(s). Pointers take up twice as much space when running 64-bit apps. Tried running a 32-bit app on the 64-bit OS?

 

[sao123]

Could be the CPU cache(s). Pointers take up twice as much space when running 64-bit apps. Tried running a 32-bit app on the 64-bit OS?

this... celerons && turions dont have enough L1/L2 to be effective 64bit CPUs under any circumstances.

 

[wirednuts]

this... celerons && turions dont have enough L1/L2 to be effective 64bit CPUs under any circumstances.

thanks guys! that is exactly what i was trying to say. it just doesnt feel right on certain rigs, and the rigs in question indeed are budget line ones. even though they are 64bit capable chips, and they ship in laptops that come with 64bit windows, it just doesnt work that well. and no amount of ram fixes it.

at least i got some confirmation on this. i would love to run more then 3gb of ram, but im not going to slow the system down just to do it... it would defeat the point.

 

[BrightCandle]

I think its unlikely that the L1/L2 cache size is making that much of a difference. You could always measure that with some benchmark tools and it should clearly show up if the CPU performance is down.

Running a series of benchmarks testing the various aspects (CPU, 2D graphics, game, drive speed) etc should enlighten you as to which device is behaving badly and slowing things down. Its potentially just a bad driver.