Re: the pentium vs. athlon question

From: John-Paul Stewart (jpstewart_at_sympatico.ca)
Date: 08/30/03 

Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 11:55:25 -0400

ray wrote:
>
> If you're really after maximum performance, I'd suggest you look at 64
> bit chips.

Why?? I've seen *no* indication that a 64-bit binary is inherently
faster than the equivalent 32-bit binary. (Except on Itanium chips
where 32-bit apps run in an emulation mode.)

In fact, the opposite is often the case: with SGI's MIPS processors
(which run 32- and 64-bit apps equally well) the 32-bit application
pretty much always runs faster than the same code compiled into a 64-bit
application. Same applies to Sun systems with SPARC processors, too,
AFAICT.

I really don't understand the recommendation here to look at 64-bit
chips.