64bit vs dual core

Could anyone tell me which one of these would perform better (assume that the RAM, GPU, etc are all the same)

A 64bit processor running 64bit apps in a 64bit operating system

or

A dual core processor running a dual threaded app.

 

I'm assuming you're saying vs. a 32-bit dual-core processor.

Unfortunately, the question you asked isn't likely to give you a straight 'one is better than another' answer, because there is none. You need to specify what kind of applications you're thinking about, and even then there's a lot of variables at play, because now you're talking about applications that have to be written in two entirely different ways to be compared. In addition, you throw in operating system and driver factors which can be quite huge in the real world... 32-bit drivers at this moment are more mature and in many cases perform better than their 64-bit counterparts.

In general, an application that uses large data-sets... like some games and a bunch of scientific / media applications can benefit greately from a 64-bit processor. These same types of applications often can benefit from multiple threads, and therefore benefit from multiple cores. Games are a bit more difficult to code in a multi-threaded manner because they usually need real-time feedback, but they will arrive eventually.

The short answer. If you're just talking about *right now*, then the answer is that the 32-bit applications are probably more mature. Otherwise, as far as one being faster than the other - that is highly application-dependent and chances are, you can find one application that will be much faster on dual core and a different one that will be much faster with 64-bit CPU architecture.

In the future, this isn't likely going to matter much since you're going to get both.

 

As said above, perform better at what?

 

Here's an article Pulp wrote - should help you understand some things.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=45655
Right now, dual-core is best as stated.

 

As said above, perform better at what?
---------------------------------------------

games

 

So......... Which one would be better for games (64 bit cpu with 64 bit games or dual core with dual threaded game)?

 

How long is a piece of string?

Depends on the game, on how well written it is, on how much use it makes (of either the 64bit or the dual core) so many variables that I think it's completely impossible to give a generic answer.