32-bit x86 >4GB RAM

[Craig White]

On Mon, 2005-11-21 at 13:26 -0800, Lyndon Tiu wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 14:15:44 -0700 craigwhite at azapple.com wrote:
> > On Mon, 2005-11-21 at 12:07 -0800, Lyndon Tiu wrote:
> >
> > > Looking for that keyword that allows 32-bit x86 systems to have more 
> > than 4GB RAM. Can someone tip me on this so that I can look it up
> > Google? Thanks.
> > ----
> > Why would you use x86 system with more than 4G of RAM?
> > 
> > Just install appropriate x64
> >
> 
> Why? I believe it's because:
> 
> Cheaper than 64-bit.
> Software available in 32-bit only.
> 
> What people do is have 32-bit machines with something like 8 GB RAM, then run multiple instances of the same software in a cluster configuration - horizontal clustering. As if you physically have 4 or so regular 32-bit machines running as a cluster, but in this case, you only have 1 physical machine.
>  
> Part of what I am researching is why people go for these setups rather than full 64-bit systems or even multiple regular 32-bit systems. Are there really performance advantages to these 32-bit >4GB setups?
----
RHEL uses per processor type pricing and the actual binaries that are
installed are immaterial to price.

Likewise, they offer 'hugemem' kernels.

I don't doubt that people do what you are suggesting...it's just beyond
my application experience.

Craig


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