Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[HailMary]

I suspected so from the beginning, but the benchmarks have more or less backed me up.

I think when we get to a production o/s and production graphic drivers, EVERY app, including existing 32-bit apps, are going to run better on the 64-bit o/s. The graphic driver itself will benefit greatly from the extra registers. The o/s is used a lot for performing system functions. It will also have a benefit, and I think this benefit will outweigh any WOW conversion.

So even without a recompile, I think existing 32-bit apps will run better on Win64. A recompile should help almost every app out there due to the extra registers, not the 64-bitness.

I'm basing this assumption on my direct observations in a Linux environment. I have access to identical Opteron systems other than running various versions of Linux, and I find the 64-bit Red Hat version to be the fastest for my existing 32-bit applications. Every 64-bit recompile I have done has resulted in significant gains (20-30%), even for mundane applications. I think the gains to be had in Windows are even greater as the o/s is not as lightweight. The Windows o/s itself should be significantly faster.

In any case, I'm not even sure it matters as it looks like AMD is going to have the top 32-bit performance slot for all of 2004, and maybe beyond. 64-bit is just extra at this point, and it should work well for selling Linux servers/workstations. It already has.