x86 or x86_64

**wolf510** · 10-17-2006

Hello everyone. I am gettign ready to update from suse 10.0 to 10.1 and was wondering what the difference was between x86 abd x86 64. I know the 64 is for a 64 bit proccesor, I am running an AMD 64 bit duel core, but was not sure if it made more sense to continue with the 32 bit version or if there were enough benifits to go with the 64 bit. Thanks everyone.

**devils casper** · 10-17-2006

there is no visible performance difference in 32bit and 64bit version. check this fine article on this written by techieMoe.

casper

**monday90** · 10-19-2006

I have a 64 bit system and have had the same dilemma. Suse dvd/cd's (as far as I am aware) will only let you install 64 bit software on a 64 bit system and 32 bit on 32 bit. Even though 32 bit software will happily run on your system. Although there is no noticable performance advantage, there is more software available in 32 bit form. Also some browser plugins are only available in 32 bit form. I may be wrong here but I always thought the main advantage of a 64 bit system was that you could address more than 4 GB of RAM.

**devils casper** · 10-19-2006

Originally Posted by monday90

I have a 64 bit system and have had the same dilemma. Suse dvd/cd's (as far as I am aware) will only let you install 64 bit software on a 64 bit system and 32 bit on 32 bit.

this is NOT true. you can install SuSe 32 BIT in 64 BIT machine.

casper

**techieMoe** · 10-19-2006

Originally Posted by monday90

I have a 64 bit system and have had the same dilemma. Suse dvd/cd's (as far as I am aware) will only let you install 64 bit software on a 64 bit system and 32 bit on 32 bit.

As stated above, this is not true.

I may be wrong here but I always thought the main advantage of a 64 bit system was that you could address more than 4 GB of RAM.

This is an advantage, but it's really only something that matters with servers, rather than workstations. If your desktop machine needs more than 4GB of RAM you've got other problems.

**apoorv_khurasia** · 10-19-2006

Also one of the advantages is that you can have 64 bit registers that shall allow you to deal with bigger chunks of data. But that is not a major performace improvement the way I see.

**monday90** · 10-19-2006

Originally Posted by devils_casper

this is NOT true. you can install SuSe 32 BIT in 64 BIT machine.

I did wonder. the last time I tried this was with a magazine cover DVD of Suse 10.0 (to save space they only included the 32 bit binaries). When I tried to install it on a 64 bit system it just booted me out with a message saying something like "Nice computer but you are about to put 32 bit software on a 64 bit machine".

**devils casper** · 10-19-2006

"Nice computer but you are about to put 32 bit software on a 64 bit machine".

this is not an error or warning message. Latest version of Suse, 10.3, does not display this message any more.

casper

**monday90** · 10-19-2006

Many thanks, I will bear that in mind. I will be looking at updating soon and having the option for a 32 bit suse install is certianly a consideration. Cheers.

**techieMoe** · 10-19-2006

Originally Posted by apoorv_khurasia

Also one of the advantages is that you can have 64 bit registers that shall allow you to deal with bigger chunks of data. But that is not a major performace improvement the way I see.

Yes, you can do this, but to my knowledge no OSS software project has actually done it. Yet. When they do, this will result in significant performance differences between 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

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