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SQL Server 64-bit applications and performance drawbacks

Serdar Yegulalp
11.19.2007
Rating: -3.67- (out of 5)

Expert advice on database administration

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There's no question that the commodity computing world is broadly transitioning from 32-bit to 64-bit architectures, especially on the server side. Conventional wisdom would have it that 64-bit is better, period: You can deal with a larger, less bounded memory space and do more with the processor itself. Why, then, would there be any incentive to continue to use a 32-bit architecture -- especially for something like SQL Server?

As it turns out, this isn't a cut –and-dried situation. On the desktop, 64-bitness isn't always the best thing, and it's not in SQL Server, either. I'd suspected something like this was the case, but I didn't come across specific reasons until I bumped into this post by the Microsoft SQL Programmability and API Development Team. They detail some of the reasons why 64-bit might not be an improvement compared to 32-bit SQL Server.

One other

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thing noted by the engineers is that in the long run, 64-bit will almost certainly benefit you. Here's one example: Even if it doesn't benefit you in the scope of one particular application to go 64-bit, it becomes possible to consolidate more of these applications into the same machine. This is something that isn't as feasible or economical in the 32-bit world.

The final piece of advice is the most perpetually relevant: Use live statistics to determine the real performance impact of moving to a 64-bit architecture. Don't use guesswork or, worse, 32-bit performance as any kind of index for how things will run in 64-bit space. If you experience performance issues, having live stats will help you determine if those issues are related to 32-/64-bit transitions or are just artifacts of a new, untuned installation.

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