Are 64 bit programs bigger and faster than 32 bit versions?

Question

I suppose I am focussing on x86, but I am generally interested in the move from 32 to 64 bit.

Logically, I can see that constants and pointers, in some cases, will be larger so programs are likely to be larger. And the desire to allocate memory on word boundaries for efficiency would mean more white-space between allocations.

I have also heard that 32 bit mode on the x86 has to flush its cache when context switching due to possible overlapping 4G address spaces.

So, what are the real benefits of 64 bit?

And as a supplementary question, would 128 bit be even better?

Edit:

I have just written my first 32/64 bit program. It makes linked lists/trees of 16 byte (32b version) or 32 byte (64b version) objects and does a lot of printing to stderr - not a really useful program, and not something typical, but it is my first.

Size: 81128(32b) v 83672(64b) - so not much difference

Speed: 17s(32b) v 24s(64b) - running on 32 bit OS (OS-X 10.5.8)

Update:

I note that a new hybrid x32 ABI (Application Binary Interface) is being developed that is 64b but uses 32b pointers. For some tests it results in smaller code and faster execution than either 32b or 64b.

https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/

Answer 1

I typically see a 30% speed improvement for compute-intensive code on x86-64 compared to x86. This is most likely due to the fact that we have 16 x 64 bit general purpose registers and 16 x SSE registers instead of 8 x 32 bit general purpose registers and 8 x SSE registers. This is with the Intel ICC compiler (11.1) on an x86-64 Linux - results with other compilers (e.g. gcc), or with other operating systems (e.g. Windows), may be different of course.

Answer 2

Unless you need to access more memory that 32b addressing will allow you, the benefits will be small, if any.

When running on 64b CPU, you get the same memory interface no matter if you are running 32b or 64b code (you are using the same cache and same BUS).

While x64 architecture has a few more registers which allows easier optimizations, this is often counteracted by the fact pointers are now larger and using any structures with pointers results in a higher memory traffic. I would estimate the increase in the overall memory usage for a 64b application compared to a 32b one to be around 15-30 %.