64-bit computing

In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits (8 octets) wide. Also, 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size.

64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s (Cray-1, 1975) and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s. In 2003 they were introduced to the (previously 32-bit) mainstream personal computer arena in the form of the x86-64 and 64-bit PowerPC processor architectures.

A 64-bit register can store 2⁶⁴ = 18 446 744 073 709 551 616 different values.

Without further qualification, a 64-bit computer architecture generally has integer and addressing registers that are 64 bits wide, allowing direct support for 64-bit data types and addresses. However, a CPU might have external data buses or address buses with different sizes from the registers, even larger (the 32-bit Pentium had a 64-bit data bus, for instance). The term may also refer to the size of low-level data types, such as 64-bit floating-point numbers.

Architectural implications

Processor registers are typically divided into several groups: integer, floating-point, SIMD, control, and often special registers for address arithmetic which may have various uses and names such as address, index or base registers. However, in modern designs, these functions are often performed by more general purpose integer registers. In most processors, only integer and/or address-registers can be used to address data in memory, the other types cannot. The size of these registers therefore normally limits the amount of directly addressable memory, even if there are registers, such as floating-point registers, that are wider.

Most high performance 32-bit and 64-bit processors (some notable exceptions are most ARM and 32-bit MIPS CPUs) have integrated floating point hardware, which is often, but not always, based on 64-bit units of data. For example, although the x86/x87 architecture has instructions capable of loading and storing 64-bit (and 32-bit) floating-point values in memory, the internal data and register format is 80 bits wide. In contrast, the 64-bit Alpha family uses a 64-bit floating-point data and register format (as well as 64-bit integer registers).

History

Most CPUs are designed so that the contents of a single integer register can store the address (location) of any datum in the computer's virtual memory. Therefore, the total number of addresses in the virtual memory — the total amount of data the computer can keep in its working area — is determined by the width of these registers. Beginning in the 1960s with the IBM System/360 (which was an exception, in that it used the low order 24 bits of a word for addresses, resulting in a 16 MB [16 × 1024² bytes] address space size), then (amongst many others) the DEC VAX minicomputer in the 1970s, and then with the Intel 80386 in the mid-1980s, a de facto consensus developed that 32 bits was a convenient register size. A 32-bit address register meant that 2³² addresses, or 4 GB of RAM, could be referenced. At the time these architectures were devised, 4 GB of memory was so far beyond the typical quantities (4 MB) in installations that this was considered to be enough "headroom" for addressing. 4.29 billion addresses were considered an appropriate size to work with for another important reason: 4.29 billion integers are enough to assign unique references to most entities in applications like databases.

Some supercomputer architectures of the 1970s and 1980s used registers up to 64 bits wide. In the mid-1980s, Intel i860 development began culminating in a (too late for Windows NT) 1989 release. However, 32 bits remained the norm until the early 1990s, when the continual reductions in the cost of memory led to installations with quantities of RAM approaching 4 GB, and the use of virtual memory spaces exceeding the 4 GB ceiling became desirable for handling certain types of problems. In response, MIPS and DEC developed 64-bit microprocessor architectures, initially for high-end workstation and server machines. By the mid-1990s, HAL Computer Systems, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Silicon Graphics, and Hewlett Packard had developed 64-bit architectures for their workstation and server systems. A notable exception to this trend were mainframes from IBM, which then used 32-bit data and 31-bit address sizes; the IBM mainframes did not include 64-bit processors until 2000. During the 1990s, several low-cost 64-bit microprocessors were used in consumer electronics and embedded applications. Notably, the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation 2 had 64-bit microprocessors before their introduction in personal computers. High-end printers and network equipment, as well as industrial computers also used 64-bit microprocessors such as the Quantum Effect Devices R5000. 64-bit computing started to drift down to the personal computer desktop from 2003 onwards, when some models in Apple's Macintosh lines switched to PowerPC 970 processors (termed "G5" by Apple) and the launch of AMD's 64-bit x86-64 extension to the x86 architecture, itself a response to Intel's Itanium gaining early operating systems support.

Limitations

Most 64-bit microprocessors on the market today have a physical limit on the amount of memory they can address, considerably lower than the 64-bit limit which would suggest a memory size of 16 exabytes. For example, the AMD64 architecture currently has a 52 bit limit on physical memory and supports a 48-bit virtual address space. This is 4 PB (4 × 1024⁵ bytes) and 256 TB (256 × 1024⁴ bytes), respectively. A PC cannot contain 4 petabytes of memory (due to the size of current memory chips if nothing else) but AMD envisioned large servers, shared memory clusters, and other uses of physical address space that might approach this in the foreseeable future, and the 52 bit physical address provides ample room for expansion while not incurring the cost of implementing 64-bit physical addresses. Similarly, the 48-bit virtual address space was designed to provide more than 65,000 times the 32 bit limit of 4 GB (4 × 1024³ bytes), allowing ample room for expansion in the near future without incurring the overhead of translating full 64-bit addresses.

64-bit processor timeline

1961

IBM delivers the IBM 7030 Stretch supercomputer, which uses 64-bit data words and 32- or 64-bit instruction words.

1974

Control Data Corporation launches the CDC Star-100 vector supercomputer, which uses a 64-bit word architecture (previous CDC systems were based on a 60-bit architecture).

International Computers Limited launches the ICL 2900 Series with 32-bit, 64-bit, and 128-bit two's complement integers; 64-bit and 128-bit floating point; 32-bit, 64-bit and 128-bit packed decimal and a 128-bit accumulator register. The architecture has survived through a succession of ICL and Fujitsu machines. The latest is the Fujitsu Supernova, which emulates the original environment on 64-bit Intel processors.

1976

Cray Research delivers the first Cray-1 supercomputer, which is based on a 64-bit word architecture and will form the basis for later Cray vector supercomputers.

1983

Elxsi launches the Elxsi 6400 parallel minisupercomputer. The Elxsi architecture has 64-bit data registers but a 32-bit address space.

1989

Intel introduces the Intel i860 RISC processor. Marketed as a "64-Bit Microprocessor", it had essentially a 32-bit architecture, enhanced with a 3D Graphics Unit capable of 64-bit integer operations.

1991

MIPS Technologies produces the first 64-bit microprocessor, the R4000, which implements the MIPS III ISA, the third revision of their MIPS architecture. The CPU is used in SGI graphics workstations starting with the IRIS Crimson. Kendall Square Research deliver their first KSR1 supercomputer, based on a proprietary 64-bit RISC processor architecture running OSF/1.

1992

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) introduces the pure 64-bit Alpha architecture which was born from the PRISM project.

1993

Atari introduces the Atari Jaguar video game console, which includes some 64-bit wide data paths in its architecture.

1994

Intel announces plans for the 64-bit IA-64 architecture (jointly developed with Hewlett-Packard) as a successor to its 32-bit IA-32 processors. A 1998 to 1999 launch date is targeted.

1995

Sun launches a 64-bit SPARC processor, the UltraSPARC. Fujitsu-owned HAL Computer Systems launches workstations based on a 64-bit CPU, HAL's independently designed first-generation SPARC64. IBM releases the A10 and A30 microprocessors, 64-bit PowerPC AS processors. IBM also releases a 64-bit AS/400 system upgrade, which can convert the operating system, database and applications.

1996

Nintendo introduces the Nintendo 64 video game console, built around a low-cost variant of the MIPS R4000. HP releases an implementation of the 64-bit 2.0 version of their PA-RISC processor architecture, the PA-8000.

1997

IBM releases the RS64 line of 64-bit PowerPC/PowerPC AS processors.

1998

IBM releases the POWER3 line of full-64-bit PowerPC/POWER processors.

1999

Intel releases the instruction set for the IA-64 architecture. AMD publicly discloses its set of 64-bit extensions to IA-32, called x86-64 (later branded AMD64).

2000

IBM ships its first 64-bit z/Architecture mainframe, the zSeries z900. z/Architecture is a 64-bit version of the 32-bit ESA/390 architecture, a descendant of the 32-bit System/360 architecture.

2001

Intel finally ships its IA-64 processor line, after repeated delays in getting to market. Now branded Itanium and targeting high-end servers, sales fail to meet expectations.

2003

AMD introduces its Opteron and Athlon 64 processor lines, based on its AMD64 architecture which is the first x86-based 64-bit processor architecture. Apple also ships the 64-bit "G5" PowerPC 970 CPU produced by IBM. Intel maintains that its Itanium chips would remain its only 64-bit processors.

2004

Intel, reacting to the market success of AMD, admits it has been developing a clone of the AMD64 extensions named IA-32e (later renamed EM64T, then yet again renamed to Intel 64). Intel ships updated versions of its Xeon and Pentium 4 processor families supporting the new 64-bit instruction set.

VIA Technologies announces the Isaiah 64-bit processor.

2006

Sony, IBM, and Toshiba begin manufacturing of the 64-bit Cell processor for use in the PlayStation 3, servers, workstations, and other appliances.

64-bit operating system timeline

1985

Cray releases UNICOS, the first 64-bit implementation of the Unix operating system.

1993

DEC releases the 64-bit DEC OSF/1 AXP Unix-like operating system (later renamed Tru64 UNIX) for its systems based on the Alpha architecture.

1994

Support for the MIPS R8000 processor is added by Silicon Graphics to the IRIX operating system in release 6.0.

1995

DEC releases OpenVMS 7.0, the first full 64-bit version of OpenVMS for Alpha. First 64-bit Linux distribution for the Alpha architecture is released.

1996

Support for the MIPS R4000 processor is added by Silicon Graphics to the IRIX operating system in release 6.2.

1998

Sun releases Solaris 7, with full 64-bit UltraSPARC support.

2000

IBM releases z/OS, a 64-bit operating system descended from MVS, for the new zSeries 64-bit mainframes; 64-bit Linux on zSeries follows the CPU release almost immediately.

2001

Microsoft releases Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for the Itanium's IA-64 architecture, although it was able to run 32-bit applications through an execution layer.

2003

Apple releases its Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther" operating system which adds support for native 64-bit integer arithmetic on PowerPC 970 processors. Several Linux distributions release with support for AMD64. Microsoft announces plans to create a version of its Windows operating system to support the AMD64 architecture, with backwards compatibility with 32-bit applications. FreeBSD releases with support for AMD64.

2005

On January 31, Sun releases Solaris 10 with support for AMD64 and EM64T processors. On April 29, Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" which provides limited support for 64-bit command-line applications on machines with PowerPC 970 processors; later versions for Intel-based Macs supported 64-bit command-line applications on Macs with EM64T processors. On April 30, Microsoft releases Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for AMD64 and EM64T processors.

2006

Microsoft releases Windows Vista, including a 64-bit version for AMD64/EM64T processors that retains 32-bit compatibility. In the 64-bit version, all Windows applications and components are 64-bit, although many also have their 32-bit versions included for compatibility with plugins.

2007

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard", which fully supports 64-bit applications on machines with PowerPC 970 or EM64T processors.

2009

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6, "Snow Leopard," which ships with a 64-bit kernel for AMD64/Intel64 processors, although only certain recent models of Apple computers will run the 64-bit kernel by default. Most applications bundled with Mac OS X 10.6 are now also 64-bit. Microsoft releases Windows 7, which, like Windows Vista, includes a full 64-bit version for AMD64/Intel 64 processors; most new computers are loaded by default with a 64-bit version. It also releases Windows Server 2008 R2, which is the first 64-bit only operating system released by Microsoft.

2011

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.7, "Lion," which runs the 64-bit kernel by default on supported machines. Older machines that are unable to run the 64-bit kernel run the 32-bit kernel, but, as with earlier releases, can still run 64-bit applications; Lion does not support machines with 32-bit processors. Nearly all applications bundled with Mac OS X 10.7 are now also 64-bit, including iTunes.

32-bit vs 64-bit

A change from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture is a fundamental alteration, as most operating systems must be extensively modified to take advantage of the new architecture, because that software has to manage the actual memory addressing hardware. Other software must also be ported to use the new capabilities; older software is usually supported through either a hardware compatibility mode (in which the new processors support the older 32-bit version of the instruction set as well as the 64-bit version), through software emulation, or by the actual implementation of a 32-bit processor core within the 64-bit processor (as with the Itanium processors from Intel, which include an IA-32 processor core to run 32-bit x86 applications). The operating systems for those 64-bit architectures generally support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

One significant exception to this is the AS/400, whose software runs on a virtual ISA, called TIMI (Technology Independent Machine Interface) which is translated to native machine code by low-level software before being executed. The low-level software is all that has to be rewritten to move the entire OS and all software to a new platform, such as when IBM transitioned their line from the older 32/48-bit "IMPI" instruction set to 64-bit PowerPC (IMPI wasn't anything like 32-bit PowerPC, so this was an even bigger transition than from a 32-bit version of an instruction set to a 64-bit version of the same instruction set).

While 64-bit architectures indisputably make working with large data sets in applications such as digital video, scientific computing, and large databases easier, there has been considerable debate as to whether they or their 32-bit compatibility modes will be faster than comparably-priced 32-bit systems for other tasks. In x86-64 architecture (AMD64), the majority of the 32-bit operating systems and applications are able to run smoothly on the 64-bit hardware.

A compiled Java program can run on a 32 bit or 64 bit Java virtual machine without modification. The lengths and precision of all the built in types are specified by the standard and are not dependent on the underlying architecture. Java programs that run on a 64 bit Java virtual machine have access to a larger address space.

Speed is not the only factor to consider in a comparison of 32-bit and 64-bit processors. Applications such as multi-tasking, stress testing, and clustering—for HPC (high-performance computing)—may be more suited to a 64-bit architecture when deployed appropriately. 64-bit clusters have been widely deployed in large organizations such as IBM, HP, and Microsoft, for this reason.

Pros and cons

A common misconception is that 64-bit architectures are no better than 32-bit architectures unless the computer has more than 4 GB of main memory. This is not entirely true:

• Some operating systems and certain hardware configurations limit the physical memory space to 3 GB on IA-32 systems, due to much of the 3–4 GB region being reserved for hardware addressing; see 3 GB barrier. This is not present in 64-bit architectures, which can use 4 GB of memory and more. However, IA-32 processors from the Pentium II onwards allow for a 36-bit physical memory address space, using Physical Address Extension (PAE), which gives a 64 GB physical address range, of which up to 62 GB may be used by main memory; operating systems that support PAE may not be limited to 4GB of physical memory, even on IA-32 processors.

• Some operating systems reserve portions of process address space for OS use, effectively reducing the total address space available for mapping memory for user programs. For instance, Windows XP DLLs and other user mode OS components are mapped into each process's address space, leaving only 2 to 3 GB (depending on the settings) address space available. This limit is currently much higher on 64-bit operating systems and does not realistically restrict memory usage.

• Memory-mapped files are becoming more difficult to implement in 32-bit architectures. A 4 GB file is no longer uncommon, and such large files cannot be memory mapped easily to 32-bit architectures; only a region of the file can be mapped into the address space, and to access such a file by memory mapping, those regions will have to be mapped into and out of the address space as needed. This is a problem, as memory mapping remains one of the most efficient disk-to-memory methods, when properly implemented by the OS.

• Some programs such as encoders, decoders and encryption software can benefit greatly from 64-bit registers (if the software is 64-bit compiled), while the performance of other programs, such as 3D graphics-oriented ones, remains unaffected when switching from a 32-bit environment to a 64-bit one. It is unusual for a 64-bit program to perform worse than its 32-bit equivalent and usually only happens due to a bug.

• Some 64-bit architectures, such as x86-64, allow for more general purpose registers than their 32-bit counterparts. This is a significant speed increase for tight loops since the processor doesn't have to fetch data from the cache or main memory if the data can fit in the available registers.

Example in C:

int a, b, c, d, e;
for (a=0; a<100; a++)
{
  b = a;
  c = b;
  d = c;
  e = d;
}

If a processor only has the ability to keep two or three values/variables in registers it would need to move some values between memory and registers to be able to process variables d and e as well; this is a process that takes a lot of CPU cycles. A processor that is capable of holding all the values/variables in registers can simply just loop through this without needing to move data between registers and memory for each iteration. This behavior can easily be compared with virtual memory, although any effects are contingent upon the compiler.

The main disadvantage of 64-bit architectures is that relative to 32-bit architectures, the same data occupies more space in memory (due to swollen pointers and possibly other types and alignment padding). This increases the memory requirements of a given process and can have implications for efficient processor cache utilization. Maintaining a partial 32-bit model is one way to handle this and is in general reasonably effective. For example, the z/OS operating system takes this approach currently, requiring program code to reside in 31-bit address spaces (the high order bit is not used in address calculation on the underlying hardware platform) while data objects can optionally reside in 64-bit regions.

As of June 2011, most proprietary x86 software is compiled into 32-bit code, with less being also compiled into 64-bit code (although the trend is rapidly equalizing ), so much does not take advantage of the larger 64-bit address space or wider 64-bit registers and data paths on x86 processors, or the additional registers in 64-bit mode. However, users of most RISC platforms, and users of free or open source operating systems (where the source code is available for recompiling with a 64-bit compiler) have been able to use exclusive 64-bit computing environments for years. Not all such applications require a large address space nor manipulate 64-bit data items, so they wouldn't benefit from the larger address space or wider registers and data paths. The main advantage to 64-bit versions of such applications is the ability to access more registers in the x86-64 architecture.

Software availability

x86-based 64-bit systems sometimes lack equivalents to software that is written for 32-bit architectures. The most severe problem in Microsoft Windows is incompatible device drivers. Most 32-bit application software can run on a 64-bit operating system in a compatibility mode, also known as an emulation mode, e.g. Microsoft WoW64 Technology for IA-64 and AMD64. The 64-bit Windows Native Mode driver environment runs atop 64-bit NTDLL.DLL which cannot call 32-bit Win32 subsystem code (often devices whose actual hardware function is emulated in user mode software, like Winprinters). Because 64-bit drivers for most devices were not available until early 2007 (Vista x64), using 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating system was considered a challenge. However, the trend is changing towards 64-bit computing as most manufacturers provide both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers nowadays, so this issue is most likely to occur when attempting to use older peripherals.

This is less of a problem with open source drivers that are already available for a 32-bit OS, since they can be modified to be 64-bit compatible, if necessary. Furthermore, support for hardware made before early 2007 was equally troubling for opensource platforms due to their small market shares in desktop market.

On most Macs, Mac OS X runs with a 32-bit kernel even on 64-bit-capable processors, but the 32-bit kernel can run 64-bit user-mode code; this allows those Macs to support 64-bit processes while still supporting 32-bit device drivers - although not 64-bit drivers and performance advantages that would come with them. On systems with 64-bit processors, both the 32-bit and 64-bit Mac OS X kernel can run 32-bit user-mode code, and all versions of Mac OS X include 32-bit versions of libraries that 32-bit applications would use, so 32-bit user-mode software for Mac OS X will run on those systems.

Linux and most other Unix-like operating systems, and the C and C++ toolchains for them, have supported 64-bit processors for many years: releasing 64-bit versions of their operating system before official Microsoft releases. Many applications and libraries for those platforms are open source, written in C and C++, so that, if it is 64-bit-safe, they can be compiled into 64-bit versions. This source-based distribution model with an emphasis on frequent releases and cutting-edge code makes availability of application software for those operating systems less of an issue.

64-bit data models

Converting application software written in a high-level language from a 32-bit architecture to a 64-bit architecture varies in difficulty. One common recurring problem is that some programmers assume that pointers have the same length as some other data type. These programmers assume they can transfer quantities between these data types without losing information. Those assumptions happen to be true on some 32-bit machines (and even some 16-bit machines), but they are no longer true on 64-bit machines. This common mistake is often called "the heresy that 'all the world's a VAX.'". The C programming language and its descendant C++ make it particularly easy to make this sort of mistake. Differences between the C89 and C99 language standards also exacerbate the problem.

To avoid this mistake in C and C++, the sizeof operator can be used to determine the size of these primitive types if decisions based on their size need to be made, both at compile- and run-time. Also, the <limits.h> header in the C99 standard, and numeric_limits class in <limits> header in the C++ standard, give more helpful info; sizeof only returns the size in chars. This used to be misleading, because the standards leave the definition of the CHAR_BIT macro, and therefore the number of bits in a char, to the implementations. However, except for those compilers targeting DSPs, "64 bits == 8 chars of 8 bits each" has become the norm.

One needs to be careful to use the ptrdiff_t type (in the standard header <stddef.h>) for the result of subtracting two pointers; too much code incorrectly uses "int" or "long" instead. To represent a pointer (rather than a pointer difference) as an integer, use uintptr_t where available (it is only defined in C99, but some compilers otherwise conforming to an earlier version of the standard offer it as an extension).

Neither C nor C++ define the length of a pointer, int, or long to be a specific number of bits. In C99, however, stdint.h provides names for integer types with certain numbers of bits where those types are available.

Specific C-language data models

In most programming environments on 32-bit machines, pointers, "int" (that is, integer) types, and "long" (that is, long integer) types are all 32 bits wide.

However, in many programming environments on 64-bit machines, "int" variables are still 32 bits wide, but long integers and pointers are 64 bits wide. These are described as having an LP64 data model. Another alternative is the ILP64 data model in which all three data types are 64 bits wide, and even SILP64 where "short" integers are also 64 bits wide. However, in most cases the modifications required are relatively minor and straightforward, and many well-written programs can simply be recompiled for the new environment without changes. Another alternative is the LLP64 model, which maintains compatibility with 32-bit code by leaving both int and long as 32-bit. "LL" refers to the "long long integer" type, which is at least 64 bits on all platforms, including 32-bit environments.

64-bit data models

Data model	short (integer)	int	long (integer)	long long	pointers/size_t	Sample operating systems
LLP64/ IL32P64	16	32	32	64	64	Microsoft Windows (X64/IA-64)
LP64/ I32LP64	16	32	64	64	64	Most Unix and Unix-like systems, e.g. Solaris, Linux, and Mac OS X
ILP64	16	64	64	64	64	HAL Computer Systems port of Solaris to SPARC64
SILP64	64	64	64	64	64	Unicos

Many 64-bit compilers today use the LP64 model (including Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, and IBM z/OS native compilers). Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler uses the LLP64 model. The disadvantage of the LP64 model is that storing a long into an int may overflow. On the other hand, casting a pointer to a long will work. In the LLP model, the reverse is true. These are not problems which affect fully standard-compliant code, but code is often written with implicit assumptions about the widths of integer types.

Note that a programming model is a choice made on a per-compiler basis, and several can coexist on the same OS. However, the programming model chosen as the primary model for the OS API typically dominates.

Another consideration is the data model used for drivers. Drivers make up the majority of the operating system code in most modern operating systems (although many may not be loaded when the operating system is running). Many drivers use pointers heavily to manipulate data, and in some cases have to load pointers of a certain size into the hardware they support for DMA. As an example, a driver for a 32-bit PCI device asking the device to DMA data into upper areas of a 64-bit machine's memory could not satisfy requests from the operating system to load data from the device to memory above the 4 gigabyte barrier, because the pointers for those addresses would not fit into the DMA registers of the device. This problem is solved by having the OS take the memory restrictions of the device into account when generating requests to drivers for DMA, or by using an IOMMU.

==Current 64-bit microprocessor architectures==(vicky) 64-bit microprocessor architectures for which processors are currently being manufactured (as of January 2011) include:

• The 64-bit extension created by AMD to Intel's x86 architecture (later licensed by Intel); commonly known as "x86-64", "AMD64", or "x64":
  • AMD's AMD64 extensions (used in Athlon 64, Opteron, Sempron, Turion 64, Phenom, Athlon II and Phenom II processors)
  • Intel's Intel 64 extensions (used in newer Celeron, Pentium, and Xeon processors, in Intel Core 2/i3/i5/i7 processors, and in some Atom processors)
  • VIA Technologies' 64-bit extensions, used in the VIA Nano processors
• The 64-bit version of the Power Architecture:
  • IBM's POWER6 and POWER7 processors
  • IBM's PowerPC 970 processor
  • The Cell Broadband Engine used in the PlayStation 3, designed by IBM, Toshiba and Sony, combines a 64-bit Power architecture processor with seven or eight Synergistic Processing Elements.
  • IBM's "Xenon" processor used in the Microsoft Xbox 360 comprises three 64-bit PowerPC cores.
• SPARC V9 architecture:
  • Sun's UltraSPARC processors
  • Fujitsu's SPARC64 processors
• IBM's z/Architecture, a 64-bit version of the ESA/390 architecture, used in IBM's eServer zSeries and System z mainframes
• Intel's IA-64 architecture (used in Itanium processors)
• MIPS Technologies' MIPS64 architecture

Most 64-bit processor architectures that are derived from 32-bit processor architectures can execute code for the 32-bit version of the architecture natively without any performance penalty. This kind of support is commonly called bi-arch support or more generally multi-arch support.

Images

In digital imaging, 64-bit refers to 48-bit images with a 16-bit alpha channel.

See also

• Computer memory

External links

• Andrey Karpov. A Collection of Examples of 64-bit Errors in Real Programs
• Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications
• 64-Bit Programming Models: Why LP64?
• AMD64 (EM64T) architecture

This article is based on material taken from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later.