difference between 64 bit and 32 bit?

[lcdtv]

hi everyone, good day.
i will just ask about 64 bit processor and 32 bit? what's the difference between 64 bit and 32 bit?
and besides, how to detect if your computer is 32 bit or 64 bit? does 32 bit operating system still work on 64 bit processor? any suggestion or ideas just post your reply here as soon as possible...
thanks a lot......


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[logicman112]

Modern CPUs (like Core 2 Duo) have a 64 bit extension and they can run 64 and 32 bit operating systems. They support IA-32 and IA-32e architectures. Some Intel chips use IA-64 architectures and they may not be able to run 32 bit software but I am not sure.

In 64 bit mode, the number of general purpose registers are added(16) and the number of bits is 64 bits. Many operations change, like PUSH and POP, in default when you push in 64 bit, 8 bytes will be pushed into the stack. Though you can force the instruction to do a 16 bit push.