A 64-bit processor refers to a microprocessor that can process data and instructions in chunks of 64 bits. Microprocessors that can handle 64 bits perform a larger number of calculations per second compared to 32-bit processors. Typical variations of the term include 64-bit CPU, 64-bit computing and 64-bit microprocessor.

A 64-bit processor uses internal registers -- temporary storage locations within the processor -- that are 64 bits wide. This typically corresponds to an address bus and data bus that are also 64 bits wide. The address bus is the pathway of electrical signals used to determine the device or memory address that the processor is attempting to access. The data bus is the pathway used to exchange data with the intended address. Processors also include signaling for a third control bus, but this bus is typically a unique collection of discrete, or individual, digital signals and does not operate like an address or data bus.


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However, these features are generally not a direct result of 64-bit registers or address or data bus design. For our purposes, the principle distinction between 32-bit and 64-bit processors is the increased bus width.

The simple notation of 64-bit may sound unimpressive by itself, but the use of 64 bits brings powerful implications for computers. In binary parlance, 264, or two raised to the 64th power, equates to 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 unique numbers. For an address bus, that is about 18 exabytes of potential addressable memory space. For a data bus, that is 18 quintillion different possible values. It is leaps and bounds more than the 4 gigabytes of addressable memory space possible with previous 32-bit processors (232 = 4,294,967,296).

Considering the large investment involved in computer hardware and software, the idea of backward compatibility is critical -- will what I have now work on something different or new? Moving from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture could potentially be disruptive. Even though 64-bit computing has been the norm for well over a decade now, it is worth considering the implications of such a transition.

Hardware. 64-bit processors are not compatible with 32-bit processors. The sheer number of signal pins involved in the processor's packaging is enough to ensure that a 64-bit processor cannot simply drop into a 32-bit processor socket on the computer's motherboard. At a minimum, a 64-bit computer requires an entire motherboard replacement to support the 64-bit processor, differing clock and bus configurations, new chipsets to interface the processor to other input/output devices like disks and ports, and sockets for much larger memory devices.

OSes. 64-bit processors have taken great pains to support compatibility between both 32-bit OSes and 64-bit OSes. A computer owner who licensed a 32-bit OS should be able to reinstall or use that OS on a 64-bit computer. However, the advanced features, functionality and performance of the 64-bit processor may not be available without a suitable 64-bit OS. Emerging OSes, such as Windows 11, dropped support for 32-bit architectures and no longer support 32-bit computing.

Software drivers. Drivers are small bits of software designed to extend the capabilities and compatibilities of an OS by enabling it to recognize, configure and use hardware devices. The drivers should match the OS. So, a 32-bit OS should run with 32-bit drivers, and a 64-bit OS should use corresponding 64-bit drivers. A 32-bit driver is not compatible with a 64-bit OS. Most hardware devices have both 32-bit and 64-bit driver versions available, so select the driver version that is appropriate for the OS.

If a 64-bit driver is not available for a hardware device, it may be possible to use a generic 64-bit driver, although some of the device's specialized or proprietary features may be unavailable. Otherwise, the device needs to be replaced with a new device that does include a suitable driver.

Applications. Most 32-bit applications function on a 64-bit processor and 64-bit OS. The only applications that do not operate properly on a 64-bit platform are those that rely specifically on 32-bit drivers -- which are not compatible with 64-bit OSes -- or those applications that incorporate 32-bit processor-specific instructions or code. Today, only the most unique or niche applications continue to use 32-bit environments, and almost all enterprise applications have updates and patches available to handle 64-bit software versions.

In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units[a] are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing units (CPU) and arithmetic logic units (ALU) are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A computer that uses such a processor is a 64-bit computer.

From the software perspective, 64-bit computing means the use of machine code with 64-bit virtual memory addresses. However, not all 64-bit instruction sets support full 64-bit virtual memory addresses; x86-64 and AArch64 for example, support only 48 bits of virtual address, with the remaining 16 bits of the virtual address required to be all zeros (000...) or all ones (111...), and several 64-bit instruction sets support fewer than 64 bits of physical memory address.

The term 64-bit also describes a generation of computers in which 64-bit processors are the norm. 64 bits 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 been used in supercomputers since the 1970s (Cray-1, 1975) and in reduced instruction set computers (RISC) based workstations and servers since the early 1990s. In 2003, 64-bit CPUs were introduced to the mainstream PC market in the form of x86-64 processors and the PowerPC G5.

With no 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).[1]

Most high performance 32-bit and 64-bit processors (some notable exceptions are older or embedded ARM architecture (ARM) and 32-bit MIPS architecture (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 able to load and store 64-bit (and 32-bit) floating-point values in memory, the internal floating-point data and register format is 80 bits wide, while the general-purpose registers are 32 bits wide. In contrast, the 64-bit Alpha family uses a 64-bit floating-point data and register format, and 64-bit integer registers.

Some supercomputer architectures of the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Cray-1,[2] used registers up to 64 bits wide, and supported 64-bit integer arithmetic, although they did not support 64-bit addressing. In the mid-1980s, Intel i860[3] development began culminating in a (too late[4] for Windows NT) 1989 release; the i860 had 32-bit integer registers and 32-bit addressing, so it was not a fully 64-bit processor, although its graphics unit supported 64-bit integer arithmetic.[5] However, 32 bits remained the norm until the early 1990s, when the continual reductions in the cost of memory led to installations with amounts of RAM approaching 4 GiB, and the use of virtual memory spaces exceeding the 4 GiB 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[6] and the PlayStation 2 had 64-bit microprocessors before their introduction in personal computers. High-end printers, network equipment, and industrial computers, also used 64-bit microprocessors, such as the Quantum Effect Devices R5000.[citation needed] 64-bit computing started to trickle down to the personal computer desktop from 2003 onward, when some models in Apple's Macintosh lines switched to PowerPC 970 processors (termed G5 by Apple), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) released its first 64-bit x86-64 processor. Physical memory eventually caught up with 32 bit limits. In 2023, laptop computers were commonly equipped with 16GB and servers up to 64GB of memory, greatly exceeding the 4GB address capacity of 32 bits.

In principle, a 64-bit microprocessor can address 16 EiB (16  10246 = 264 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes, or about 18.4 exabytes) of memory. However, not all instruction sets, and not all processors implementing those instruction sets, support a full 64-bit virtual or physical address space.

The x86-64 architecture (as of 2016[update]) allows 48 bits for virtual memory and, for any given processor, up to 52 bits for physical memory.[27][28] These limits allow memory sizes of 256 TiB (256  10244 bytes) and 4 PiB (4  10245 bytes), respectively. A PC cannot currently contain 4 pebibytes of memory (due to the physical size of the memory chips), but AMD envisioned large servers, shared memory clusters, and other uses of physical address space that might approach this in the foreseeable future. Thus the 52-bit physical address provides ample room for expansion while not incurring the cost of implementing full 64-bit physical addresses. Similarly, the 48-bit virtual address space was designed to provide 65,536 (216) times the 32-bit limit of 4 GiB (4  10243 bytes), allowing room for later expansion and incurring no overhead of translating full 64-bit addresses. 17dc91bb1f

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