There’s an
old saying that goes, “You can never be too rich or too
thin or have too much RAM.” Okay, I’m paraphrasing
a little, but all the digital photographers out there are nodding
their heads in agreement. Your photo files are steadily increasing,
compounding your need for RAM and processing power to handle
all these large images. If only you could work faster and store
more data!
By now, you’ve probably heard some of the buzz about 64-bit
processing. In a nutshell, the benefits translate to more memory
and more speed.
More
Memory
Current computer architecture gives us 32-bit chips, which work
with 32 bits of data at a time and address up to 4 GB of RAM.
By contrast, the spiffy new 64-bit chips have a theoretical
limit of 18 exabytes (18 billion billion bytes). Of course,
in practice, the actual number will be lower, since our computers
aren’t up to handling that much RAM yet (the limit on Apple’s
new G5, for example, is 4 terabytes). Still, it’s pretty
impressive. Software programs that bump up against the memory
limitations of 4 GB will realize an immediate boost in performance.
More Speed
Working with large image files in 32-bit can feel like you’re
racing at a turtle’s pace. The process can slowly drain
you of precious time you could have spent watching the grass
grow. The new computers, however, are very fast indeed; compared
to 32-bit, the 64-bit CPUs process vastly more data per clock
cycle.
When today’s 32-bit computers reach their maximum 4 GB
memory capacity, anything beyond that must be stored via virtual
memory on the hard drive, which is much slower than using RAM.
A 64-bit platform stores more data in memory, rather than on
the hard disk, so processing data is faster—40 times faster,
in fact. As a result, you’ll enjoy a greatly expedited
workflow in complex applications.
When Is This Happening And Who’s
Involved?
The revolution has already begun, and it’s moving out of
the corporate realm and into the consumer domain. Last fall,
Apple introduced the G5 personal computer, which uses an IBM
64-bit PowerPC processor. A short time later, AMD unveiled its
64-bit Athlon chip. Intel has rolled out its Itanium 64-bit
processor for servers, and that chip should be in desktop systems
before long.
Of course, the new hardware necessitates new operating systems
and software written with 64-bit code—a major endeavor,
to be sure. OS manufacturers have been working for many years
now to bring something to the table, and we’re starting
to see the fruits of their labor. Microsoft has cooked up a
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, which is scheduled to be released
in early 2004 and supports up to 16 GB of RAM, and Apple OS
X is already a partially 64-bit operating system.
On the software front, there aren’t many 64-bit programs
for the desktop PC at present. However, the beauty of 64-bit
processors is that they were built to run 32-bit applications
as well. This allows you to transition to the new software as
it becomes available, whenever you’re ready to upgrade,
while continuing to run all your old favorites on the new machines.
Digital photographers can jump in right now with Photoshop CS,
Adobe’s latest version of its popular software, which was
designed to make maximum use of 64-bit architecture. Other software
manufacturers will no doubt follow suit as 64-bit systems really
start to take off, which is predicted to happen within the coming
year.
The capabilities of today’s desktops are quickly being
outstripped as resolution and bit-depth of image files multiply
and memory requirements continue to grow. If you work with multimedia
applications, 64-bit could become a fast friend. Managing large
photo files and smoothly running the latest imaging programs
should become a whole lot easier once the tortoise makes way
for the hare.
