SoundTaxi 64-bit / 64bit / x64
From SoundTaxi
Introduction to 32-bit vs 64-bit
Either you buy a PC with pre-installed Windows distribution or purchase the OS separately, you can choose between the 32-bit (also known as x86) or the 64-bit (also known as x64) edition of Windows. While the 64-bit OS environment is gaining momentum lately, many novice and professional users alike have trouble deciding which edition to run on their PCs.
The same applies for consumer applications. Even if you are using a 64-bit edition of Windows, many software companies offer their products in 32-bit versions and 64-bit versions. The bits refer to a number of available memory addresses. With 32-bits, 4GB of physical memory is available, while with 64-bits, 17.2 billion GB of memory can theoretically be used (though the real number is much lower since it's limited by the operating system).
64-bit performance
There’s a common myth that 64-bit versions of software, and in our case SoundTaxi, are always faster. However, based on our tests, the performance increase doesn't occur in most real life scenarios, and when it does, it's limited by the following factors:
- Only some software operations experience the performance increase
- When it occurs, the performance increase is minimal
- More than 4GB of RAM is needed
- The software needs to process large files (1 GB or more)
- A 64-bit operating system is required (e.g. Vista x64, Windows 7 x64, Windows 8 x64)
In real life tests, software can use the 64-bit architecture to process huge amounts of data at higher speed. This is usually the case for large software suits,- like video editing, games, encryption software, etc. As you can see, SoundTaxi doesn't fall into any of these or similar software categories. Hence, the difference in performance for software like SoundTaxi is negligible, and that is why we dedicate the development resources towards a 32-bit version of SoundTaxi.
SoundTaxi on 64-bit systems
Based on the explanation above, the development team is supporting a 32-bit version of SoundTaxi, which works great and delivers maximum performance on both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. By doing so, we also ensure much better stability, since SoundTaxi is built on a mature code base which was maintained for longer periods of time. SoundTaxi utilizes many optimizations and hardware acceleration mechanisms (Intel Optimization, MultiThreading, multicore optimization), that ensure performance increases that vastly outweigh those of 64-bit software.
