Re: 64-bit vs 32-bit distros

From: Rod Smith (rodsmith_at_nessus.rodsbooks.com)
Date: 03/17/05

  • Next message: Clemens Ladisch: "Re: USB sound adapter" 
    Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:09:20 -0000

    In article <ns2f31d8qujvu11uk8ee73g6vq8le270kp@4ax.com>,
            Marty <this.address@is.invalid> writes:
    >
    > I have a 64-bit AMD Athlon 3000 system. I'm trying out a bunch of distros,
    > and I'm wondering whether it's better to get the 64-bit version when
    > available.
    >
    > I have 1 GB of memory, and don't use memory-intensive apps right now, so
    > that's not an issue. I wonder if 64-bit is really faster (significantly)
    > than 32-bit.

    The typical improvement is in the 10-30% range, but some see no
    improvement (or even a drop in speed) and some see more than this. I ran a
    few very simple benchmarks for a piece I wrote for Linux Magazine about a
    year ago:

    http://www.linux-mag.com/2004-07/athlon_01.html

    Newer versions of GCC may have changed things a bit since then, though.

    > But I mainly wonder if, when a distro that comes with both
    > versions, the two are equivalent in features and stability. Is it simply a
    > recompile of the same code? If I try a 64 bit version of Fedora, is it
    > exactly the same as the 32-bit version?

    They aren't QUITE identical. There are issues in compiling some programs
    on different CPUs that can result in bugs. A year ago, these problems were
    still being ironed out, as summarized in my piece for Linux Magazine. I
    haven't done an extensive comparison since then, but from what I've seen,
    matters have improved. (Not that I'd say it was bad then, particularly if
    you picked one of the distributions that was better in AMD64 form.)

    Overall, I'd say that if you're a home hobbyist type, go ahead and use a
    64-bit distribution. You might run into a few minor problems, but not so
    many that you'll regret the decision. If you're running a mission-critical
    server or some such, you'll need to do more research, and perhaps do some
    in-house testing. 

    -- 
Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking
  • Next message: Clemens Ladisch: "Re: USB sound adapter"

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