32 bit vs. 64 bit Dolphin: where's the difference?

[Anudu]

Hi there! I'm a happy Dolphin user on Vista 64 bit.
Revision 3661 x64 used to crash from time to time and I'm absolutely incapable of finding the reason. (Mario Galaxy, for example)

No error message appears. The emulator just hangs and Vista tells me something like "Dolphin doesn't work anymore". It points to some crash logs, but they hardly tell anything, but cryptic numbers.

I updated each and everything, from BIOS to graphic cards driver. I am using a GTX260, Intel Quad Core Q9550, Gigabyte Mainboard... so nothing unusual here.

Out of frustration, I downloaded the x32 version of Dolphin and to this point, it didn't crash (but that doesn't mean much, since x64 doesn't crash regulary: could play 2 days without one crash. Then, without anything different, it crashes every 5 minutes).

My question is: where's the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Dolphin in a technical way? Is there some improvements over 32 bit? Or is it complete nonsense, because Dolphin never allocates more than 1 GB RAM?

(Really, I tried nearly everything. My temperatures are fine, no programs interfere, disabled sound, enabled it, 2 cores, 1 core, other graphics card, blah blah blah)

Oh, and answer my poll, please! Thankyou!

[nosound97]

x64 is supposed to run faster than x86

[Anudu]

(07-08-2009 10:10 PM)nosound97 Wrote:  x64 is supposed to run faster than x86

Supposed? Can this be quantified?

[batnas]

if a program is made for 64bit, then it might be faster.
64bit means that the CPU can "use/calculate" 64bit at a time.
if a program needs to calculate with 64bit then a 64bit computer is faster than 32bit

\\Batnas

[jasong]

I found quite a difference in speed between 32 and 64 bit.... I guess I could run some benchmarks if you wanted.

[Anudu]

(07-09-2009 02:04 AM)jasong Wrote:  I guess I could run some benchmarks if you wanted.

That would be quite interesting! If you don't mind, give me some bench!

[jasong]

Ok I will do that a bit later.

[SantaC]

you also need a 64 bit OS right

[CacoFFF]

Considering my 64 bit OS can't even run a x86 version of Dolphin. Doesn't even hurt a bit since 64bit versions are better.
About the occasional crashing, in single core mode (since old revs), i've never experienced random crashes in games that are supposed to run perfectly.

[jasong]

I did some basic benchmarks, the 64-bit version seems faster overall by about 5-10fps, though not noticeably in Zelda TP. I can post screenies later.