64bit Steam

godtabh

STEAM wrote:

Available Now: 64-Bit Half-Life® 2 and Lost Coast™

For those of you running with a 64-bit capable AMD® processor, along with the Windows® 64-bit operating system, Half-Life 2 and Lost Coast are now available in native 64-bit versions. Steam will automatically detect your OS and run the appropriate version the next time you run these games.

We've been working with AMD to get the Source™ engine up and running in 64-bit mode to make sure we're taking advantage of these hardware configurations. This is just a first step for Valve into 64-bit. Going forward, we realize that more and more of our customers will be running with 64-bit processors and we will be set to take true advantage of them.

The official press release is available here.

Is this the first sign of 64 bit being used by the aveage joe?

SolarNexus

yeah, just noticed that when I installed hl2

its not the first occurance though, unreal tournament had a 64bit version

godtabh

SolarNexus wrote:

its not the first occurance though, unreal tournament had a 64bit
version

Didnt now that.

When things like this start to happen with will become more and more main stream.

Would playing games on 64 bit have much difference than 32 bit ie better graphics faster loads etc?

SolarNexus

kearnsr wrote:

Didnt now that.

When things like this start to happen with will become more and more main stream.

Would playing games on 64 bit have much difference than 32 bit ie better graphics faster loads etc?

the way I understand it, 64bit has no intrinic advantage over 32bit in ordinary systems (<4gb RAM). In fact if anything, 64bit can be more of a disadvantage (for now at least) as data becomes bloated:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

The main disadvantage of 64-bit architectures is that relative to 32-bit architectures the same data occupies slightly more space in memory (due to swollen pointers and possibly other types and alignment padding).

data can actually occupy as much as twice the space as 32bit data, and have no additional properties/advanages.

I think we're far from realising the true benifit of 64bit

Khannie

Yeah, because of data size differences, it's gonna be some time before you really see 64bit advantages kick in (extension specific compiler enhancements will be the real winner).

cregser

FarCry has had a 64bit version for a little while now but I haven't played it yet. IMO the 32bit version has best game graphics I've seen (better than hl2). I believe the 64bit version allows more foliage and insects, etc. to be displayed on screen at the same performance level as 32bit FarCry. In other words, it's no big whoop.

AMD's 64bit is a future proofing gimmic as far as i'm concerned. PCs seem to be making a slow progression into 64bit, with 64bit-ready people not exactly getting people excited with what they can do and others can't.

For example (and I don't know the exact story now, but) moving to 64bit Linux a couple of months ago meant having shag all driver support. And I already struggle to get audio and usb in linux distros with my Neo2.

BopNiblets

Have AMD64, need a 64bit OS though.

Vista will be 64bit, right?
I know there's a 32bit beta out... but the actual release?

astrofool

64bit Vista will be the one worth getting, as in, it's going to actually have driver support...

jesus_thats_gre

cregser wrote:

FarCry has had a 64bit version for a little while now but I haven't played it yet. IMO the 32bit version has best game graphics I've seen (better than hl2). I believe the 64bit version allows more foliage and insects, etc. to be displayed on screen at the same performance level as 32bit FarCry.

Are you serious?