cpuinfo

**ImNeat** · 02-23-2006

I've been searching around the web to try and learn about CPUs. I'm quite confused. I think I understand everything for the most part - but I still don't know whether i386 or x86_64 is right for me.

How do I get information on my cpu? I checked proc/cpuinfo but none of it makes any sense to me. I have a pentium 4 HT 3GHz. Is that 32 or 64 bit? Which "family" is it? My cpu info sais it's "15."

I just want to be 100% sure which type of software to get in the future. Up til now I didn't know the difference and just selected whichever.

oz · 02-23-2006

Did you check out techieMoe's stickied thread on it?

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/per...a64-em64t.html

The wikipedia is also a good source of info regarding CPUs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86

**ImNeat** · 02-23-2006

Yea I've read up on both of those - that's where I got my basic knowledge. I just don't know how to figure out info about my processor. Like is mine 32 bit or 64 bit, etc. Also my "family" is 15 -- not 3, 4, 5 or 6.

**antidrugue** · 02-23-2006

The manufacturer's site is always the place to go for info.

From what I understand your CPU is an "Intel Pentium 4 Processor supporting Hyper-threading Technology".

You will find much info here.

As if it supports the "Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel EM64T)", that depends on the exact model of your CPU.

You will have to make sure by finding the exact CPU model in this list.

The EMT64 technology is known as Intel implementation of AMD64.

Good luck.

**ImNeat** · 02-23-2006

Yea thanks for the link - their webpage was the first place I looked, hehe. The problem is that I don't know much about my processor - so I'm trying to figure it all out. Only place on the computer I know to go to is the "proc/cpuinfo" -- but it doesn't say too much.

**antidrugue** · 02-23-2006

Well then...

Did you build your computer yourself? If so, you should check the CPU box...

If not, well, call your computer's vendor (I mean, Dell, or HP, or whoever built it). By your computer serial number, they will be able to tell easily the exact nature of all the components (at least the CPU model number, that's for sure).

**DThor** · 02-23-2006

I'm a little unclear about this. You've already got the OS installed, obviously. Are you planning on reinstalling over top again? Do you currently have 32 bit installed? If unsure, you can type in:

Code:

uname -a

and that will tell you. I always thought installers were smart enough to tell you if you were trying to install the wrong version - maybe SUSE spoiled me, dunno.

Anyway, if you already have a 32 bit kernel, all this doesn't matter unless you plan to reinstall - you'll only be able to run 32 bit.

As far as what to use in future, it's likely you'll only find certain things compiled for 64 bit. It doesn't necessarily get you any benefit for most things - just tends to eat up more memory. It's great for huge memory apps, that sort of stuff. Luckily most installs have 32 bit compatible libs installed, so the two flavours can co-exist under the same 64 bit kernel.

DT

**ImNeat** · 02-23-2006

Na this is just all pure curiosity. I noticed overtime that every file I was downloading came in either i386 or x86_64. I always dl'd whichever I clicked first, not really paying any attention. I decided to look into it and figured out it wasn't as simple as "i386 is for this and x86_64 is for this..." Since I have a pentium I figure I'll just keep getting i386 -- but I honestly don't have any idea which version of Linux Fedora Core 3 I have or what my processor would prefer.

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