What Is 64-Bit Processing?

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Dave Andrews. Today, I'm going to talk to you about 64 bit processing. Now, you may see advertised, when you're looking at computers in the store, a 64 bit processor, as opposed to a 32 bit. Now, basically, the most basic difference between the two, is the 64 bit processor, processes numbers that are 64 bits long, as opposed to a 32 bit processor, which processes numbers that are 32 bits long. That might not sound like a huge difference, but it actually is. Software has to be written to take advantage, of this new 64 bit processing method, because the way that it handles numbers, is quite a bit different than the way it handles numbers in a 32 bit version, so programs that run on your computer, have to be specially written to take advantage of the 64 bit processor, that's built into the newer computers. If you're using a 32 bit program, it might run on the 64 bit processor, but a 64 bit program won't run on the 32 bit processor. It's not interchangeable in that way, so I'm going to show you how to see, what type of processor you're running in your computer. Just click on your Start button, and let's right click on Computer, and go to Properties. As you can see here, next to processor, I'm using an AMD Athlon 64 Bit Processor, that's dual core, and it is running at 1.8 GHz, so I'm basically in this laptop that I'm on right here, I have a 64 bit processor, and therefore it's taking advantage of the additional processing power that a 64 bit processor provides. My name is Dave Andrews. I've just talked to you a little bit about 64 bit processing."