I have yet to see any perfomrance improvements in SQL Server 64 bit vs. SQL Server 32 bit. The HARDWARE is what makes the different in perf not the software... Unless you're advocating lots of extra memory the processor and core almost certainly isn't the reason you're seeing better performance.

It's running the same freaking processor for one thing - how could it make that much of a difference even under the best of circumstances? There are a few extra registers to use, but even some of that is negated by the mere fact that every operation has to push around more bits (64 bit pointers instead of 32 bit ones).

Have you actually tested and seen perf differences that are significant enough to back up what you're saying?

+++ Rick ---

>Tracy, as you probably oberved, well over half the desktops right now ship with some flavor of a 64-bit OS pre-installed, and a growing # of laptops are coming with the 64-bit OS as well.
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>Rick, every quarter I teach the Microsoft SQL BI tools to about 100-125 students - many of whom are interested in running all the tools on a home machine afterwards. They get some pretty hefty-sized training databases - much larger than AdventureWorks - and they want to run the entire cycle of exercises, from ETL to creating MOSS dashboards and all points in between, many of which are pure server-based. Running all these in 64-bit (on good hardware, which I warn them about) potentially helps them get the most out of performance.
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>Thats's 1 trainer, 1 set of students....for an expanding BI market that I'm not sure you're considering.