Way back when we had the 640k barrier because the 8086 CPU couldn't talk to more than 1M of memory. Now we're rapidly approaching the 4G barrier as a single 32 bit program can't talk to more than 4G of memory (actually more like 3G because of the OS overhead) and games rapidly filling out to that sort of level.
I just have to wonder whether the transition to 64 bit will be relatively complete by the time we hit the 4G barrier, or whether it will be a time where game development is stifled a little by core hardware limitations? The incentive to release a game *only* on 64 bit CPUs isn't very high just yet, but it has to come one day...
Dd
The 4G barrier
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Ddrak
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Fallakin Kuvari
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Re: The 4G barrier
Longhorn...Ddrak wrote:The incentive to release a game *only* on 64 bit CPUs isn't very high just yet, but it has to come one day...
Dd
64-bit is "supposedly" going to be one of the Reqs.
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Thats just one of the rumors I had been hearing...
Of course I also heard they scrapped Longhorn entirely to focus on the 2006 OS release...
So, moral of the story, don't believe everything people tell you... even if they ARE well informed.
Of course I also heard they scrapped Longhorn entirely to focus on the 2006 OS release...
So, moral of the story, don't believe everything people tell you... even if they ARE well informed.
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Embar Angylwrath
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Perhaps if designers of game applications hit a wall on the amount of memory they can use, they'll start writing better code. Also, should the 4G barrier be a true hardware barrier, I think you'll see systems that start to employ parallel processors.
But that opens up some code nightmares, in and of itself.
But that opens up some code nightmares, in and of itself.
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