Will there be a native 64 bit version of Steam?

[TobiSGD]

I run a pure 64 bit installation of Slackware as my main OS and I would appreciate if I can use Steam on that without having to go for multilib. It is 2012 and we are gamers, who still uses 32 bit anyways on a gaming system?
So will there be a native 64 bit version of Steam or will the 64 bit version just be a repackaged 32 bit version, like with so many other commercial software.

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

I hope so.

[Naib]

well steam itself being 32bit or 64bit is a moot point (it doesn't have to be 64bit)
but l4d,tf2,dota2... those as 64bit would be good

[TobiSGD]

Actually no, it is not a moot point if Steam is 32 or 64 bit. If it is 32 bit you have to install a 32 bit compatibility layer to run it on a 64 bit OS. What would be the point in that to do that only for Steam if the games (hopefully) are 64 bit anyways? Why should I put the extra work in that just for one program that should be easily able to be compiled for 64 bit systems?

[geekening]

I run Slackware64 14.0, too, and I was wondering the same thing. I already run multilib because of Skype but I've been trying to use it less and less so in the future I'll keep it pure 64 bit. Unfortunately, I doubt they'll make a native 64 bit version. It'll most likely be a repackaged 32bit version as you said.

[blackout24]

I also hope that it's 64 Bit but I'm afraid that this won't be the case. It's not a deal breaker but I hate installing 32 Bit libs for compatabilty. It just feels stupid because no one really needs 32 Bit anymore. It is outdated crap. Once the first 64 Bit CPUs came out Linux supported them from day one and you get everything in 64 bit. Only reason I have 32 bit libs is because Microsoft is stuck in the past. Skype (Microsoft) needs 32 bit. Wine for two Windows Programms (Microsoft again) also requires 32 bit. It is so silly. My dad bought an old used office PC with Pentium 4 CPU for 50 Euros. Guess what it has 2 GB RAM and is 64 Bit capable!

[Kung Fu Jesus]

There are 64 bit Windows binaries (of at least the games), why wouldn't they do the client as well? Afterall, it's just a recompile. And they can unlock those extra general purpose and XMM registers :), something that is useful if they make use of SIMD instructions.

[Shigutso]

64bit compiled games are kinda rare in Windows, but not in Linux. Let's see if we can get 64bit Steam games, as this would increase the performance! :-)

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

Originalmente postado por t.jp:

I also hope that it's 64 Bit but I'm afraid that this won't be the case. It's not a deal breaker but I hate installing 32 Bit libs for compatabilty. It just feels stupid because no one really needs 32 Bit anymore. It is outdated crap.

That's not exactly true. Try x32-abi you get almost every advantage of 64bit benefits, while leaving the overhead of 64bit pointers out.

[Spectone47]

My Netbook is 32bit only because it has an Atom processor. My desktop has 8GB of RAM so it would be silly not to use 64Bit OS on it.

Some people do game on Atom powered machines and thus throwing out 32bit would deny them access to those few games which run well on low powered systems.

[YellowApple]

I also hope for 64-bit games and Steam.

[Kung Fu Jesus]

Originalmente postado por Shigutso:

64bit compiled games are kinda rare in Windows, but not in Linux. Let's see if we can get 64bit Steam games, as this would increase the performance! :-)

Yes but every Valve game I've seen advertises when and if it's a 64 bit binary. And this was long before 64 bit versions of Windows were the norm (I was one of the few on Windows XP x64 and any HL2 based game and beyond would claim to be 64 bit on the splash screen). Of course I never really checked if it was running with WoW64 or not, but I'm pretty sure it was.

[Tux9656]

Think of it from a business standpoint. It would make the most sense to distribute Steam and Steam games as 32 bit only. You have to release a 32 bit version of the games or you will lose sales. There are some old 32 bit only systems that are still fast enought to handle a number of the newest games on Steam, let alone the older titles that are still selling quite well. You could distribute both a 32 bit and 64 bit version of the games, but this increases costs of testing and supporting both as opposed to just releasing a 32 bit version. Furthermore, nobody is going to refuse to buy any game because there is no 64 bit version. I hope Valve does release 64 bit versions of Steam and Steam games, but I can certainly understand why this might not happen.

Unfortunately, I think we really aren't going to see many 64 bit games until we get to the point where the fastest of the old 32 bit systems can't handle any games released within the last five to ten years or so.

I can understand why some Linux users prefer not to have a multiarch system. On Debian sid, multiarch is still a bit of a mess. A possible solution that would keep your system 64 bit only would be to install the 32 bit version of your distro inside a chroot.

On a side note, rjames13, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all Atom CPUs are 64 bit capable now.

[Cyan~]

32 Bit is OK it can run 6GB out of the box ot 16GB of RAM with PXE

[MerReady]

People need to understand that there are more 32 bit computers out there world wide than they think. I was even thinking about resurrecting one of my old gaming rigs to play older titles on and its a AMD XP 2600M oc 32bit system. It will run any linux game to date just fine so for me a 32 bit Steam client will be just fine.

[NessDan]

I can't say for sure what's going to happen but on Valve's official Linux blog they did state they were testing on an Ubuntu 32-bit system.

Here's the post.

That being said, it could be a hint that most of their testing was done on a 32-bit linux environment.To top it off, Steam for Windows has always been 32-bit.

My thoughts: Steam will be 32-bit for Linux.