Snow Leopard 64-bit kernel mode a big win for Helicon Focus

Testing Helicon Focus shows a stunning 18% gain over Leopard when booting Snow Leopard into 64-bit kernel mode. That’s as if a 2.66GHz machine were suddenly running at 3.1GHz. What an awesome upgrade. Most programs don’t gain that much, but everything I’ve tried in 64-bit mode is as fast, and usually faster than the 32-bit kernel mode.

The hitch? Apple defaults Snow Leopard to 32-bit kernel mode, which forgoes most of the gains. See Booting Into 64-bit Mode.

Wow!!!