Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Whats the big deal about 64bit when there is less than 4GB ram?

Starfyre

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 7, 2010
2,905
1,136
As the question states, what is the big deal about 64bit the RAM is not 4GB or higher? Whats the technical reasoning besides being a marketing buzzword for a -forward thinking- phone? (forward thinking is not equal to actually being THE phone of the future) Is the next iPhone 6 planned to have 4 GB of RAM and they are doing this just so developers can start "thinking" and making 64bit apps?
 
Last edited:
Starfyre said:
As the question states, what is the big deal about 64bit the RAM is not 4GB or higher? Whats the technical reasoning besides being a -forward thinking- phone? Is the next iPhone 6 planned to have 4 GB of RAM and they are doing this just so developers can start making 64bit?
Click to expand...

They didn't have anything else to say. Needing a marketing bullet that looked good for investors.
 
Guess we need a person on the forum who knows what they are talking about to answer this question in a technical manner.
 
With a native 64 bit processor, a lot of complex math computations become much faster.

Since many apps have these math computations at their core, this can potentially speed up certain classes of applications.

There are also other, less easy to explain in a forum post, tricks that become feasible to use when you have 64 bits to play with in one contiguous block as opposed to only 32.

Basic point: 64 bit support is a big step that will offer some benefits now, and more benefits as time goes on.
 
The 4 GB memory thing is hardly the only benefit. There are numerous other benefits that come from going to 64-bit that can improve processing and security in general. And again, given that they can do it now, it's never bad to get the developers going on 64-bit as early as possible as it's clear that as these chips get more powerful, these devices are going to be able to do a lot more. I don't think the "forward thinking" emphasis is meant to be trivial or taken lightly. This is the first step into the future, and while it might not make a tremendous difference right now, it very likely will in the coming years.

And besides that, it's clear that this is the year of the iPhone 5C. The 5S is a spec-bumped 5 typical of the S years, and it'll be a great device, but they're putting their marketing muscle behind the 5C which will undoubtedly sell better. What do you see when you type www.apple.com right now? An iPhone 5C.

They're clearly not trying to shove 64-bit down people's throats as a major new selling point. It's an improvement, but it's more about "forward thinking" than anything else right now.
 
It's about using the newer ARMv8 ISA which is 64-bit, there's a lot of new stuff in there that can help speed things up.
 
It's paving the way. Right now there won't be a big difference, but once apps start to get more and more complex, then the 64bit capability will become more notorious.
 
Speaking in terms of applications out currently, what exactly will run faster or better with these new specs? I'm assuming the obvious answer is games, but it seems like every generation says this with only a minimal improvement in games graphics, but still it's an improvement so gaming at least is probably the most valid example, although IMO a weak one mainly because only a few games somewhat take advantage of it.

So besides gaming, what real world applications exist which don't run fast enough on the iphone 5, or could have increased complexity built into them that the iphone 5 could not run? Just curious, because these spec wars (not just Apple, other phone makers too) just seem kind of silly at times if not for the fact that so many buy into them.
 
MikhailT said:
Wrong link. x86-64 has nothing to do with ARM v8. Whatever benefits x86-64 has wouldn't mean the same for ARM v8, they're entirely different architectures.
Click to expand...

64 bit when talking about assembly/registers surely would be the same, as in there would be more. I wasn't really trying to compare x86-64 to ARM v8 architecture. It was more of an example that there are more registers to store/execute more instructions.
 
Mr. Retrofire said:
64-Bit alone does not increase the number of computations per second. SIMD instructions can do this (i.e. NEON instructions).
Click to expand...

I didn't say it increased computations per second. But in some cases it will reduce the number of computations necessary for certain calculations, which translates to faster calculations.
 
Starfyre said:
As the question states, what is the big deal about 64bit the RAM is not 4GB or higher? Whats the technical reasoning besides being a marketing buzzword for a -forward thinking- phone? (forward thinking is not equal to actually being THE phone of the future) Is the next iPhone 6 planned to have 4 GB of RAM and they are doing this just so developers can start "thinking" and making 64bit apps?
Click to expand...

What does it matter? If the A7 really is twice as powerful as the A6 then who cares?
 
It will be able to run Nintendo 64 games now since those required a 64-bit processor. Previously, we could only run SNES and the original nintendo game. Luckily the iphone 5, 5c, and 5s are getting the 3D features in iOS 7, and would be able to run virtual boy games too.
 
vistadude said:
It will be able to run Nintendo 64 games now since those required a 64-bit processor. Previously, we could only run SNES and the original nintendo game. Luckily the iphone 5, 5c, and 5s are getting the 3D features in iOS 7, and would be able to run virtual boy games too.
Click to expand...

:confused:

What are you even talking about? Jailbreak gaming emulators?
 
vistadude said:
It will be able to run Nintendo 64 games now since those required a 64-bit processor. Previously, we could only run SNES and the original nintendo game. Luckily the iphone 5, 5c, and 5s are getting the 3D features in iOS 7, and would be able to run virtual boy games too.
Click to expand...

You don't need a 64bit processor to emulate the Nintendo 64. There are plenty of N64 emulators for Android which run just fine on all high end handsets released in the last couple of years, all of which are 32bit.
 
I think Apple is trying to future proof their hardware platform so that it can support higher RAM memory in the future. And while they are at it, they are positioning it an advantage to customers.

While of little consequence now, it might be pointing to a total overhaul of iOS in the near future to support the sort of bells and whistles that Android has, which call for higher RAM memory.
 
I'm not even a hardcore computer science geek but when Phil said it was 64 bit yesterday, I definitely understood the significance of it.

What he said was true, it took (and is still taking) absolutely YEARS for the PC industry to go 64 bit.

For Apple to do it on a phone? Incredible.

That was actually the only WOW moment of the entire event for me.
 
If you are technically challenged, just know it's 2x as fast overall and leave it.


Still want to know? read on.

The 4GB thing is just a side benefit and not the main reason to go 64 bit, as already mentioned.

This is actually old stuff from the first Intel 4004 processor, circa 1970, at 4 bits, then it went to 8 bits, then 16 bits, 32, and now 64. The Intel I5 in your laptop is a 64 bit processor.

In its very essence, the CPU does a lot of data moving and basic math. a 64 bit data path means a highway with 64 lanes. If the neighboring town has a 32 lane highway instead they will move less cars per hour and hence able to do less "work." That's the layman comparison my computer science professor used on Computer Science 101.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back