64-bit or 32-bit: When will it matter?

Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll use
it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction. Should
whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not, when? If so,
how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I understand AMD is
slightly faster for games, but what I'm more interested in is the
long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By the time 64-bit
programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I purchase be
obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for at least two
years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel), would it
assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?

"aether" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll use
> it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction. Should
> whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not, when? If so,
> how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I understand AMD is
> slightly faster for games, but what I'm more interested in is the
> long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By the time 64-bit
> programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I purchase be
> obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for at least two
> years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel), would it
> assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?
>

Intel are releasing their 64-bit Processors into the market right now I
think..
If not visually then they are at least doing it on paper..
I'd bet your safe for 2 years using a non-64b system. I doubt you'll save
any real cost savings by building anything other than a a64 system.

Hey Aether, I'm getting ready to get a N4 and amd 3.2 winchester cpu...
plus just using the xp home sp2 for software....
I know MS 64bit OS will be out soon, but I see no real need to get it
even with a 64bit cpu until games start coming out running in 64bit..
that's just me.....
good luck

"aether" <> wrote in message news: ups.com...
> Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll use
> it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction. Should
> whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not, when? If so,
> how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I understand AMD is
> slightly faster for games, but what I'm more interested in is the
> long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By the time 64-bit
> programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I purchase be
> obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for at least two
> years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel), would it
> assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?
>

"aether" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...

> Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll use
> it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction. Should
> whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not, when? If so,
> how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I understand AMD is
> slightly faster for games, but what I'm more interested in is the
> long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By the time 64-bit
> programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I purchase be
> obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for at least two
> years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel), would it
> assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?

I would consider a processor with 64-bit support to be a slight plus
right now. At the moment, you're probably better off letting 64-bit CPUs
drop the prices on processors without 64-bit support. It's quite possible
that by the time you want a 64-bit CPU for games, the CPU you buy today will
already be obsolete.

DS

David Schwartz wrote:
> "aether" <> wrote in message
> news: ups.com...
>
>> Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll
>> use it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction.
>> Should whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not,
>> when? If so, how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I
>> understand AMD is slightly faster for games, but what I'm more
>> interested in is the long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By
>> the time 64-bit programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I
>> purchase be obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for
>> at least two years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel),
>> would it assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?
>
> I would consider a processor with 64-bit support to be a slight
> plus right now. At the moment, you're probably better off letting
> 64-bit CPUs drop the prices on processors without 64-bit support.
> It's quite possible that by the time you want a 64-bit CPU for games,
> the CPU you buy today will already be obsolete.

If you buy a socket 939 CPU and motherboard today, you should be able to
whack in a dual core CPU at the end of the year.

I suspect that the 939 socket will live for a while, with options like that.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

On 1 Mar 2005 02:27:41 -0800, "aether" <>
wrote:

>Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll use
>it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction. Should
>whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not, when? If so,
>how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I understand AMD is
>slightly faster for games, but what I'm more interested in is the
>long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By the time 64-bit
>programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I purchase be
>obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for at least two
>years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel), would it
>assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?


When I build a new PC the old one gets used as our 2nd PC, the 2nd then
becomes the 3rd and so on... so when I built my last PC (6 months ago) I
went with AMD64 so when it becomes my 2nd PC I'll have two 64-bit
supported PCs. If you sale the box in 2 years it may be worth more if it
has a 64-bit CPU inside also.
Good luck and happy building,
Ed

> Ed wrote:
> On 1 Mar 2005 02:27:41 -0800, "aether" <>
> wrote:
>
>
> When I build a new PC the old one gets used as our 2nd PC, the 2nd
then
> becomes the 3rd and so on... so when I built my last PC (6 months
ago) I
> went with AMD64 so when it becomes my 2nd PC I'll have two 64-bit
> supported PCs. If you sale the box in 2 years it may be worth more if
it
> has a 64-bit CPU inside also.
> Good luck and happy building,
> Ed


Another question: can the Abit AA8XE 'Fatal1ty' board support the new
Intel EM64T processor? It's an LGA775 based motherboard.

On 1 Mar 2005 14:31:01 -0800, "aether" <>
wrote:

>> Ed wrote:
>> On 1 Mar 2005 02:27:41 -0800, "aether" <>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> When I build a new PC the old one gets used as our 2nd PC, the 2nd
>then
>> becomes the 3rd and so on... so when I built my last PC (6 months
>ago) I
>> went with AMD64 so when it becomes my 2nd PC I'll have two 64-bit
>> supported PCs. If you sale the box in 2 years it may be worth more if
>it
>> has a 64-bit CPU inside also.
>> Good luck and happy building,
>> Ed
>
>
>Another question: can the Abit AA8XE 'Fatal1ty' board support the new
>Intel EM64T processor? It's an LGA775 based motherboard.

http://www2.abit.com.tw/test_report/...A8XE/index.php

hth,
Ed

> Ed wrote:
> On 1 Mar 2005 14:31:01 -0800, "aether" <>
> wrote:
>
> >> Ed wrote:
> >> On 1 Mar 2005 02:27:41 -0800, "aether" <>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> When I build a new PC the old one gets used as our 2nd PC, the 2nd
> >then
> >> becomes the 3rd and so on... so when I built my last PC (6 months
> >ago) I
> >> went with AMD64 so when it becomes my 2nd PC I'll have two 64-bit
> >> supported PCs. If you sale the box in 2 years it may be worth more
if
> >it
> >> has a 64-bit CPU inside also.
> >> Good luck and happy building,
> >> Ed
> >
> >
> >Another question: can the Abit AA8XE 'Fatal1ty' board support the
new
> >Intel EM64T processor? It's an LGA775 based motherboard.
>
> http://www2.abit.com.tw/test_report/...A8XE/index.php
>
> hth,
> Ed


I honestly overlooked that. Appreciate it, Ed.

I suppose that means the AA8XE is 'future proof' for a couple years.
Or, am I missing something?

aether wrote:
>>>Another question: can the Abit AA8XE 'Fatal1ty' board support the
>
> new
>
>>>Intel EM64T processor? It's an LGA775 based motherboard.
>>
>>http://www2.abit.com.tw/test_report/...A8XE/index.php
>>
>>hth,
>>Ed
>
>
>
> I honestly overlooked that. Appreciate it, Ed.
>
> I suppose that means the AA8XE is 'future proof' for a couple years.
> Or, am I missing something?
All boards which can use the 5xx series of intel prescott p4 cpus can
also use the emt64-capable 6xx series (with a bios update, if there's a
board which can't yell at the manufacturer until it can...).
As for future proof, this doesn't exist. With intel, it is already
certain you will need another board for the upcoming dual-core P4 cpus
(release sometime this year). With AMD, it wouldn't be that much better,
you could likely upgrade to some (expensive high-end) dual-core Athlon64
at the end of the year or so (with socket 939, nothing but new low-end
cpus are to be released for socket 754), but next year AMD will
introduce a new socket (M2, boards/cpus will support DDR2-667) too.

Roland