CODEWITHSUNDEEP
64-bitx86-64virtual-memory
peachykeen
peachykeen

Reputation: 4411

64-bit Virtual Address Space Size

I was reading this Wikipedia article about this size of the virtual address space in x86-64 and it said the virtual address space is 2^64 bytes in size. Why is it not 2^67 bytes, derived from there being 2^64 addresses and each address being 8 bytes?

For this question I am not concerned about the specifics of x86 where not all of the virtual address space is used etc.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 815

Answers (1)

user3344003
user3344003

Reputation: 21607

Each address refers to ONE byte. Not, eight.

Systems these days are byte addressable; not word addressable as in ye olde days.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions