Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Mike Sobers wrote:
> > If a 64-bit processor could run two 32-bit programs at the same time
>
>    How the heck could it do that?

Well, I don't know.  I'm not an OS programming expert.  Maybe it's not
possible, but in any case it's probably unlikely that an OS would be
designed to operate this way, since dual 32-bit processors would be more
efficient I would think.  Mathematically, you could use the upper 32 bits
of a 64-bit memory allocation simultaneously with the lower 32-bits by
shifting the information in the registry upward.  That way one 64-bit
operation could accomplish two 32-bit operations.  Whether this is useful
in a larger programming sense, I don't know, but I suspect not otherwise
programmers would take advantage of it. While 64-bit generally means more
_precision_ in the calculations, a program could utilize the extra memory
capacity available to each 64-bit operation to accomplish two 32-bit
operations at the same time.

Your question was "why do some people think it could be twice as fast?".
It's because some people understand math and binary operations, but not
neccessarily how computer architecture is designed around them.  That's why
the question was asked in the first place, because a lot of us have a lot to
learn about what advantages the new higher-precision hardware/software will
provide.

Mike

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