64 bits processing
The first thing that comes to one's mind is to compare the 64 bits processors specs with their current 32 bits installed one. Obviously, frequencies are lower than the big amount of MHZ we get used to. Is megahertz all it is about?
The problem is that buyers usually rely on the clock speed (megahertz) of a microprocessor to determine their purchasing decision. Because the industry lacks a simple, universally accepted way to judge performance, users have become conditioned to substituting clock speed to gauge how fast their applications will run. In fact, there is much more to consider if we want to make a fair comparison. While megahertz is a little part of the equation, there are other (much) decisive technical data to understand. With up to 6MB cache memory and 6GB increased bandwidth, reduced I/O bottlenecks and an integrated 128 bits DDR memory controller to speed up memory-intensive applications, 64 bits processors offers greater performance over 32 bits architectures. Plus, guess it, its faster processing because it works with 64 bits rows.
In order to ease the thing for everyone, chips makers have been making the processor compatible with 32 bits applications. Stamp it once for ever, 64 bits processors benefit from the latest technologies improvements, they are definitely faster in doing it than older generation 32 bits ones. Of course the best speed will be achieved using real 64 bits applications, because you gain from the newest processors technologies and also from the 64 bits processing, but still even your 32 bits applications will run faster with improved memory access. In the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor, the front-size bus has been replaced by a dedicated memory bus and a HyperTransport link. The HyperTransport link operates at 1600MHz. There are now many flavors of Operating System available in 64 bits version and many applications have been ported to the 64 bits platform. And since you still can run your old 32 bits applications, you won't lose anything. Instead, you have everything to win in upgrading right now to a world-class 64-bit performance designed to deliver full compatibility with existing x86 solutions. All applications will benefit from increased data throughput and architecture efficiency. In particular, memory-intensive applications and digital content creation will benefit from the architecture.
How would you decide if you need it?
Basically, if you feel your computer is a little bit slow, like when opening resources consuming applications or several programs at the same time, you would be tempted to add some extra memory and to make a fresh installation of the OS. If you can afford the little extra investment, it would pay back to invest in a brand new 64 bits platform. First you would check your existing hardware installation specs and to calculate the cost of the vertical upgrade you would need to achieve a similar power as with just a brand new 64 bits platform. You would then compare it to the benefits of having a stable system, saving on maintenance fees, and a fast system, saving on work-hours. Additionally, you would be able to cope with new challenges and upcoming technologies. You may think that it is too much power and that your task don't require it. You wrong. Even regular secretarial work, like word processing, would be done in an easer way. Needless to say, you would feel much comfortable, such much efficient.
There are some cases when it even become critical to upgrade an installation. Take a look at your computer system logs. Does it happen often that you reach the top of the processor power usage ? If it does that mean that you are asking too much from it. It may lead your system to become instable and to crash repeatedly. Even if you have some hardware protection against such burn out, you may be very concerned with an upgrade. If this is happening on a server, you absolutely need to take steeps. Remember, you should not be using more then 85 percent of your available processor power on a regular basis. Over than 85 means you are in need of upgrade. The same comments works about memory usage, in some way. With a faster processor, you can faster process data, such releasing memory space for further operations. And, 64 bits processor architecture make it with faster memory access too.
Remember, the biggest, toughest business challenges in the world are tackled and very often solved through high performance computing (HPC).