[Novalug] question/advice 32 bit or 64 bit

James (Jim) Darlack jmdarlack@yahoo.com
Thu Aug 9 16:43:37 EDT 2012


Woe.  Thanks, I will keep a copy and move forward with 64 on my i3.
 
The old dual amd64 craptop?  Sure, why not.
 
Thanks, David, always good info on the Lug.
 
Jim
 

________________________________
 From: David A. Cafaro <dac@cafaro.net>
To: Clif Flynt <CLIF@CFLYNT.COM> 
Cc: NOVALUG <novalug@calypso.tux.org> 
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2012 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Novalug] question/advice 32 bit or 64 bit
  
I know I'm a little late to this discussion but there are many more
bonuses to running 64bit on a system even if it has less that 4GB of RAM.

1. Yes better/faster support for 3.75GB of ram or more (there is often
overhead with ram so that you actually don't get 4GB with a stock 32bit
kernel, and PAE is slower)

2. Better security. Memory and disk access is handled more cleanly when
less "trickery" with memory locations has to be done to access bits
higher that 2^32.  Plus even the baseline 64bit CPUs have added security
functions that weren't available for 32bit cpus and only a kernel
compiled with that support can take advantage of it (many stock i586 or
lower 32bit stock kernels don't)

3. Performance.  Related too number 2 above, many 32bit stock kernels
only support a limited subset of the newer instruction sets that even
the basic 64bit cpus (and matching basic stock kernels) support.  That
means faster media performance, compiling, and other processor intense
tasks.

4. Virtualization performance and functions.  If you want to do
virtualization run 64bit kernels.  It would perform MUCH better than a
32bit setup and provide more functionality.

So there are lots of advantages to running 64bit on a 64bit cpu vs 32bit
on a 64bit cpu.

The only downside is running 32bit software on a 64bit OS.  It can be
done, but there is a performance hit and some functionality limitations.
Luckily almost all OpenSource software has 64 bit versions and most
commercial versions are also on track to 64bit or there.

Cheers,
David



On 08/08/2012 11:07 AM, Clif Flynt wrote:
> Experts - please correct me if I'm mistaken.
> 
> My belief is that if you need more than 4G of RAM you must either have
> a 64 bit OS or use the 32-bit PAE kernel.
> 
> My experience is that Centos 5.x replaces my PAE kernel with a stock
> kernel as the boot-time default when it updates.  This is a minor
> issue, but it's an annoyance.
> 
> I only find a need for more than 4G of RAM when I'm running multiple
> virtual machines, or the VM is a Windows system that needs 4G all by
> itself.
> 
> On Tue, Aug 07, 2012 at 03:50:55PM -0400, Bonnie Dalzell wrote:
>> ...
>> i now have two 64 bit cpu computers.
>> ...
>> should i switch over to the 64 versions?
>>
> 
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