Scratch

It has some sort of link with hexadecimal, i.e. 16 = 2^4.
So, when a display has 16 million colours, it actually has 16^6 = 2^24 = 16777216 colours. This is just the colours #000000 through #FFFFFF, each number in those being in hexadecimal. (Pedantic people, F is a number when you're in hexadecimal.)

The you thing is april fools. It happens when y0u type y-o-u

Last edited by johnnydean1 (2011-04-01 17:06:47)

LS97 wrote:

sparks wrote:

The number of bits a 64 bit computer can handle at once is greater than the 32 bit one. This means a 64 bit computer can run faster. In terms of graphics, 16 bit games used to take sprites and level squares of 16X16px such as the pokemon overworld, then 32 bit graphics came in where the images are designed to be 34 bits in images. The values 8, 16, 32 and 64 all come from binary as each is double the last.

Thanks! So what does that 34 bit mean, in english?

4 bytes and 2 bits.

XX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Usually things are divisiable by bytes.

A 32 bit 2 GHz processor could take 32 bits at a frequence of 2 Ghz every second.

Or 32 * 10^9

Or 32 Trillion bits a second. That is the maximum. Now how about a 2Ghz quad 64?

64 * 10^9 * 4

256 Trillion bits a second <-- The processor would never use this much as it would need a lot of cache and RAM which come with access delays.

It may seem like a lot of information. But look at how much is used for a screen.

Every pixel is 6 hexadecimal. Hexadecimal is a byte. Lets look at 1000 x 1000 screen

6 * 8 * 1000 * 1000 = 48 million. Now let the refresh rate of the monitor be 100Hz

4.8 Billion bits a second. Not including all the calulation bits. Now you can see why computers are slow.

rdococ wrote:

I don't have a single clue.

Well, now you have one! ("A clue! A clue!" No, it's not Blue's Clues.  )
Bits, bytes, nybbles, all of these need a bit of practice. You know how we have 10 different digits?
0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
Well, your computer only has two. That's called binary.
0-1
And sometimes we even use 16 digits! That's called hexadecimal, or just hex.
0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-A-B-C-D-E-F
Well, these 1s and 0s are called bits. There are two-as many as there are digits!
Here's a bit: 0
Another bit:1
There are only two.
Binary, in your computer, stores information, like what the character å looks like, or what happens when you press 4. As you can guess, a bit can't hold much. There are only 2 combinations. So, people use hex. That can hold 16 different things.
...or not. Hex is usually used in pairs: that gives 16^2 possibilities. And those possibilities can be expressed in 8 bits: the first four hold the first value, and the next four hold the second. These 8bit combinations are so common in computers that they are called bytes. Yum! I just had a byte of a cookie! 
For whatever reason, there are nybbles: 6 bits. Whatever those are used for, they have just 63 combos.
TRALALALALA! off to find the second clue-Oh wait! It's not Blue's Clues! 
~~~~~~~~~~
I think 32bit pcs use 32bits for something... Memory? RAM? Graphics? Output?

Taneb wrote:

32 bit PCs (and 64, and 16, etc) I think that number refers to the size of numbers the computer can process in one operation.

Nope, Taneb. The number means how many numbers (bits) the monitor needs to create a colored pixel.

Tip: 24-bit is too much for an average human eye. A human eye can only see about 10 million colours, yet a 24-bit computer displays more than 16 million colours!

Taneb wrote:

Going back to the original post, LS97 was asking whether there was a link between 32/64 bit computers and 16/32 bit graphics. A 32 bit PC does not necessarily have 32 bit colour, in fact, it more likely has 24 bit or maybe 30 bit colour. So, in answer to the original post, no, there is no connection, other than what "bit" means in terms of data.

However, 32-bit does have 32 bits, 8 of which are new and handle 1-byte/8-bit transparency. A 32-bit computer does not actually have 256*2 shades for each hue including transparency; it has 256 shades for each hue, which then get another value for the colour pixel called "transparency".

Another tip: Shapes other than squares cannot be described in bits that don't have a bit value of simple transparency.

Infact, it looks like 32-bit but it's 64-bit. Also, a 32-bit computer is 32-bit.
Look here:

Wikipedia's users wrote:

...those that are at most 32 bits (4 octets) wide. ...

See? Also, a 32-bit computer could set to display 8-bit graphics, it depends on your settings.