Results

The results of the research show that 32 bit systems are more preferred than 64 bit systems in terms of gaming performance. Most of the questions asked on the surveys are in favor of 32 bit system in terms of number and percentage. 83% of the respondents use a 32 bit system computer gaming unlike the 64-bit users which only consolidates for 17% of the respondents. Most of the gamers spends 2-3 hours playing the computer (Counts for 64% of the respondents) so it is important to know what is the condition of the system unit in terms of temperature. For 32 bit systems, the temperature was rated NORMAL compared to 64 bit units which are considered hot based on the answers of the respondents. Of course, every system has its own issues, so it is vital to know the disadvantages of using both systems. The most common issues related to gaming in 32 bit systems are Lag issues. Gamers found it really lag during gameplay. While, 64 bit systems main problem is the game compatibility issue. Users found it hard to install programs using this computer system. 97% of the respondents have tried using both of the said systems and 80% of them prefer using 32 bit systems.

Discussions
64 bit allows exobytes of RAM. However, 64-bit Windows is written such that it'll only allow 256TB of RAM to be addressed to reduce load. I don't believe this is a limitation on the AMD64 instruction set though, but a limitation to Windows itself. Granted my desktop only has 16GB of RAM and most seriously loaded enthusiasts machines and workstations might have 64GB (I am ignoring servers). At a likely rate of growth about roughly a doubling in RAM density every 2-3 years, we'll hit that cap on high end machines in about 20-30 years.

One perk though of 32-bit over 64-bit is that it allows larger registers to be used (how memory is addressed and instructions issued). There are some workloads that actually run slower with a larger register space, but those are few and far between. Most programs/parts of programs run faster with a larger register space.

The performance difference is usually pretty small, but we are talking generally in the realm of 3-10% is the typical speed up you can see from moving a program from 32-bit to 64-bit. So it isn't simply being able to address more memory, there are other benefits as well.

Also as Leax256 pointed out, 64 bit would allow greater math precision. This would likely be a case where performance would suffer, as it would create a greater workload for the processor. That said, you don't necessarily have to go out to 64 bit precision on your math. You could always simply move to 40 bit precision or even 34 bit. 34 bit precision would get you numbers that are 4 times more accurate than they are currently, 40 bit would get you 256 times more accurate. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/50463-32bit-vrs-64bit

As you might know, a computer runs on binary. It counts using only 1's and 0's. So our 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 would be:

000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111

in binary. During counting above here I only used 3 symbols. So this was a 3 bit system. However, if I add another number it would become 1000, a 4 bit number. I can't fit a 4 bit number in a 3 bit system. This is essentially the problem computers have right now. When you try to access some data the computer needs to tell the memory where the data is. When you have a 32 bit system the computer can only point to about 4 billion places. So if you have any more the computer can't access it. Right now we are at a strange place in the history of operating systems. Both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems are available to us, and its not always clear which is the best way to go. Many people want the simplicity of using the same 32-bit OS that they have for years, while others are moving to 64-bit versions so they can take advantage of the technology that weve been looking forward to and run 8GB of RAM. Whats even more interesting is that we are seeing companies like Gateway and HP shipping more consumer computers (including notebooks) with 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and is an option on most computers. But is 64-bit the right choice? The answer is looking like, not always. Toms Hardware has been following the computer industrys slow transition to 64-bit for years and now that things are starting to pick up pace and we are seeing some 64-bit native applications, they posted an article about 64-bit gaming performance.

Overall, its pretty sad to see how little the change affects todays games. When testing a 32-bit setup with 3GB of RAM against a 64-bit one with 3GB and then 6GB we frequently see changes of just a frame-per-second or two. Sometimes the 32-bit system even beat the 64-bit one. To summarize, there isnt major advantage to having a 64-bit gaming rig at the momentfor gamingbut there doesnt seem to be any major disadvantages either. Given the cheap cost of memory and the changes on the horizon, Toms says 64-bit is the way to go.

http://www.geek.com/games/should-your-gaming-computer-be-64-bit-719981