Difference Between x86 and x64

Computer technologies are constantly evolving, and if we base our predictions to

Moore s law, it would keep going for decades to come. The fast paced development
of computer hardware is largely due to the voracious appetite of the consumers f
or better and faster components. Whenever developers hit a roadblock that limits
the further advancement of the current standard, we see a sudden shift to a new
standard. This is what is happening between x86 and x64.
x86 is a very old technology that started with the 8086 family of processors. It
has now evolved into the x86-32 version which is the most common version and it
s successor the x86-64 or more commonly known as x64. The move gradual shift to
x64 has started quite early while there were still no major drawbacks seen in th
e pc market. This is because the first market to experience the problems related
to x86 was those who run high end servers.
Running a system that has 32bit architecture means that you are always limited t
o what 32bits can point to. In this case, the problem stemmed from memory. A 32b
it long pointer could only point to a maximum of 4.2billion addresses which is j
ust about 4GB of memory. As such, it can only allocate up to 4GB of memory to a
certain program even if it has 16GB of memory available. This limitation may nev
er be a problem for a home setup but in a server environment, it presents a huge
problem. That s why x64 processors appeared very early for the consumers.
The x64 architecture still follows what x86 has but it improves on it by having
64bits in every address. This means that the memory capacity of the x64 architec
ture is the square of 4.2billion, which for now is an unimaginable amount of mem
ory. That coupled with certain enhancements makes the x64 architecture a certain
ly great processor to replace its predecessor.
The problem with x64 is that the software for it isn t really there yet. Although
there are already operating systems that try to take advantage of the x64 archit
ecture, most do not and there are even some that won t run on an x64 OS. Eventuall
y, the software meant for x64 architecture would arrive and all the 32bit hardwa
re and software would become obsolete. But for now, the x64 architecture is stil
l haunted by software incompatibilities that limit its appeal to the general pub
lic.
The last feature of the x64 architecture is its absolute backwards compatibility
with the x86. So that even if your processor is x64, the user wouldn t notice any
difference as long as your OS is 32bit. This could be good since once the softw
are arrives, you would only need to update your OS and software since the hardwa
re is already there.