and handle more memory.
(ZT)A 64-bit CPU has two main advantages over a 32-bit processor.

First, it processes data in packets that are twice the size of what a 32-bit CPU can handle. For word processing, Web browsing, and other simple tasks, this won't boost performance by much. But for compute-intensive tasks such as volume rendering and surface rendering, 64-bit processing helps the CPU execute code faster--much faster.

Second, a 64-bit CPU can access far more system RAM (memory), as much as 18 exabytes (EB)--that is, 18 quintillion bytes of data. By contrast, a 32-bit CPU can address no more than 4 GB of RAM. For Windows PC, the maximum address size for user data is only 2GB.

The much bigger address space by 64-bit CPU makes it possible to render images that are much much bigger than we do on a 32-bit machine. The "All Views" command with "Full Resolution" will no longer be limited for most of the images. We'll get a lot less "out of memory" messages on the 64-bit machine.

If 18 EB seems like overkill, it is. In fact, AMD has limited the range of the addressable memory space in its Athlon 64 processor to "just" 1 terabyte (TB)--that's 1 trillion bytes, equal to 1,000 GB.

The following table compares 32-bit vs. 64-bit resources:

Address Space..........64-bit.....................32-bit
Virtual Memory_______16 Terabytes_______4 Gigabyes
Paging File___________512 Terabytes______16 Terabytes
Hyperspace__________8 Gigabytes________4 Megabytes
Paged Pool __________128 Gigabytes______470 Megabytes
Non-Paged Pool ______128 Gigabytes _____256 Megabytes
System Cache _______1 Terabyte ________1 Gigabyte
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