64-bit Application Announcement

World Community Grid announces the release of 64-bit applications.

World Community Grid currently provides research applications designed to run on computers with 32-bit processors and 32-bit operating systems. Over the past few years, most new computers have 64-bit processors, and an increasing number of them are running a 64-bit operating system. These newer computers run the 32-bit applications properly, however, the computer can not leverage the advantages of 64-bit technology for the 32-bit applications (some advantages of 64-bit technology are described below).

As a result, World Community Grid plans to deploy 64-bit technology for our research applications. Our plan is to deploy 64-bit applications for all active research project which still have a lot of work to run before they finish. In addition, we plan to launch all new research projects to operate in 32-bit and 64-bit.

As we deploy 64-bit applications, we will list them below and we will also update the Systems Requirements FAQ (see note 5 in the System Requirements).

Computing for Clean Water - Windows, Linux & Mac-Intel platforms only.

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One of the advantages of 64-bit processors is the usage of more general purpose registers than 32-bit processors. This helps the processor to fetch data from the cache, or main memory, in tight loops. Also, 64-bit applications allow the usage of libraries designed for 64-bit operating systems instead of emulation mode.

Members interested in more details about the benefits of 64-bit technology will be able to find additional information on the internet.