Source 64 bit?

[Eärendil]

That was such a great press release I STILL don't know what the heck 64bit HL2 will do for me!

Do I get sparklier FX even if I'm running a GF4?
Does it make my gameplay smoother overall?
What exactly happens when one "takes advantage of 64bit" processors?

Anything enlightening would be awesome! Thanks [H]'ers!

[ninethreeeleven]

Taking advantage of 64bit... hmmm. There are not too many 64bit apps out there, atleast not on my computer.
FarCry 64 didn't do much for me (I run Windows 64bit), O&O Defrag seems a bit quicker, and by seems I mean about 5 minutes quicker over 60gigs.

But the one program that runs hella fast is Internet Explorer 64. Its not surfing in general, that has to do with connection speed. It's pulling things from the cache that is amazing. That program runs at ludicrious speed. I get surfing NewEgg or The [H] Forums or some other sites I frequent and once a few page backgrounds/images get loaded into the Cache the speeds at which they reload is amazing. It's flat out faster than anything I have used. It seem like the difference between dial up and highspeed.

As for HL2 64bit, I don't know. It should run faster with textures and such, and maybe load times will diminish, but overall it has to be a big file to rewrite half the source code in order to really make a difference.