64-bit computing

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "64-bit computing" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units^[a] are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing units (CPU) and arithmetic logic units (ALU) are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A computer that uses such a processor is a 64-bit computer.

From the software perspective, 64-bit computing means the use of machine code with 64-bit virtual memory addresses. However, not all 64-bit instruction sets support full 64-bit virtual memory addresses; x86-64 and AArch64 for example, support only 48 bits of virtual address, with the remaining 16 bits of the virtual address required to be all zeros (000...) or all ones (111...), and several 64-bit instruction sets support fewer than 64 bits of physical memory address.

The term 64-bit also describes a generation of computers in which 64-bit processors are the norm. 64 bits is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory, and CPUs and, by extension, the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have been used in supercomputers since the 1970s (Cray-1, 1975) and in reduced instruction set computers (RISC) based workstations and servers since the early 1990s. In 2003, 64-bit CPUs were introduced to the mainstream PC market in the form of x86-64 processors and the PowerPC G5.

A 64-bit register can hold any of 2⁶⁴ (over 18 quintillion or 1.8×10¹⁹) different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 64 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two most common representations, the range is 0 through 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 (equal to 2⁶⁴ − 1) for representation as an (unsigned) binary number, and −9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (−2⁶³) through 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (2⁶³ − 1) for representation as two's complement. Hence, a processor with 64-bit memory addresses can directly access 2⁶⁴ bytes (16 exabytes or EB) of byte-addressable memory.

With no further qualification, a 64-bit computer architecture generally has integer and addressing registers that are 64 bits wide, allowing direct support for 64-bit data types and addresses. However, a CPU might have external data buses or address buses with different sizes from the registers, even larger (the 32-bit Pentium had a 64-bit data bus, for instance).^[1]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).