Why are 64 bit computer systems being brought onto the market?
As Windows has become larger it has become necessary for the computer processor to… 1. Run faster and 2. Directly & randomly address more memory (RAM = random access memory). The computer can run faster by having a wider 64 bit “word” so that simple concurrent instructions can be stacked side-by-side into the one word. (There is a name for this: “Horizontal Microprogramming”.) The computer can also run faster if it can directly access more memory because memory overflow does not have to be swapped to and from the hard disk. The capability of the computer to directly address memory locations depends on the width of the computer “word”. One such word is the “Memory Address Register” (MAR) which contains the memory address that is being read from or written to. The 32-bit MAR can count from zero up to a maximum of 2 to the power of 32. 2^32 = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 x 4 = 4 Gigabytes. So if you want to run 32 Gigabytes of Memory (RAM) then you will need a larger MAR, and the manufacturers ar
