64

[robinturner]

I am trying really hard not to go 64-bit. I know that for the past five years I've been using a 266 MHz CPU (yes, that's megahertz, not gigahertz), and it's only recently that my computer has become intolerably slow. I know that it is unnecessary, and that a 64-bit processor will give me more computing power than I am likely to need in the next decade. I know that a 64-bit processor and a 56K modem is a ludicrous combination, like wearing patent leather shoes with cutoff jeans.

The problem is, when I read those incomprehensible hardware reviews, I just start drooling, despite the fact that this is supposed to be Freedom From Pornography Week. Of course I don't need a 64-bit processor, but if I had one, I'd be the only person on the block with one. I could go round shouting at people "I'VE GOT 64 BITS, NUMBNUTS! YOU'VE ONLY GOT 32, NYAH NYAH NYAH!!"

Of course the only people I know who would understand me would fall into two categories:

1. "I was going to get one, but I heard there's a better one coming out next month, so I spent my money on a GeForce Quatro instead."
2. "What's the point? I've got ten old Celerons hooked up in a Beowulf cluster, and they're faster than a Cray."

This is what happens when you go to bed at midnight, wake up at 2.30 a.m. then start planning your new computer. And I have to go to work in two hours!

Comments

Nyah?

[tristan-moore.livejournal.com]

" And I have to go to work in two hours!"

This is where I would just stay up (to hell with sleep) heh..

Geek City.

[ankh156.livejournal.com]

Check my latest post.

I think I may have out-geek'd ya !

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

The problem with 64-bit proc's is that there ain't really any software, right now, that can really use them, and the supporting HW is kinda kludged. I'd save your money. By the time 64-bit computing is practical, there will be much better proc's than the current crop. Spend your money on the fastest 32-bit proc you can afford.

Here's some more food for thought. BTW, this site can be decidedly anti-intel, in case you think I'm biased by proximity, although I try not to be.

[solri.livejournal.com]

Software isn't such a big issue for us Linux users, as you can get Linux compiled for a 64-bit processor (one advantage of using an OS that is geared toward the server market). Don't know if there's much performance difference, though. Apart from that, you're right of course, and if even someone like Tom of Tom's Hardware is skeptical about the Athlon 64 (especially after he drooled so copiously over the Opternon nForce3 combination) then it is cause for serious doubts. It looks like Athlon rushed through their 64-bit CPU largely just to steal a march on Intel.

I rekon I'll spen the most money on the things I'm least likely to upgrade later, like a decent monitor.

[subbes]

Nerd.

[solri.livejournal.com]

$ echo 

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

From what I've read, the 64-bit Linux isn't terribly useful in a desktop environment - most of the common apps don't run on it. That'll probably change, somewhat, now that there is a viable desktop 64-bit processor.

Also, in any system, the bottleneck is still the bus speed between RAM and CPU, not the CPU itself, and 64-bit processing will only make that worse, which is why the P4P Extreme has such a huge L2 cache.

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

Jesus. Nice run-on sentence.

Friday = good

[solri.livejournal.com]

That's mild compared to what I see in my line of work. At least it parsed properly; I often end up writing "Where is the verb?"

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

yeah, I don't miss grading papers.

I once had to grade a paper in which a student went on, at length, about how the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was more realistic than the Venus deMilo because the Venus is sans-arms...

[solri.livejournal.com]

That is priceless! It reminds me of a story about Picasso. Apparently a man on a train asked him why didn't paint things like they really were. Picasso asked the man what he meant, and he pulled out a picture of his wife. Picasso's comment was: "Your wife is very small. And a little ... flat."