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      64-bit execution helps to speed up encryption and decryption as
      well as file compression.<br>
      This aids in archiving, secure shells, secure sockets, and memory
      to memory copy,<br>
      not to mention compiler (gnu) and linker (ld) speed-ups.<br>
      <br>
      There are also hardware considerations besides memory size, such
      as multi- channel<br>
      memory configuration and use of matched memory sticks. Upgrading
      to 64-bit can <br>
      get an even better throughput increase if all the hardware and
      BIOS factors are in accord.<br>
      <br>
      If your computer is using all available memory and a significant
      portion of swap space, then<br>
      you have a situation known as "running from the disk".    If that
      is case, your system will be<br>
      rather pokey and the remedy is to add more memory.  This can
      happen regardless of whether<br>
      you are running a 32-bit kernel or a 64-bit kernel. <br>
      <br>
      <br>
      On 05/31/2013 02:08 PM, Lisa Kachold wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
cite="mid:CAEYqmRtn3ZMvQOQWzo6kvt86ZDvBVi782sZR3EB91pu_Jp_-vw@mail.gmail.com"
      type="cite">Hi Keith, 
      <div><br>
      </div>
      <div>Excellent subject!  See my inline comments below:<br>
        <br>
        <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 9:28 AM, keith
          smith <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
              href="mailto:klsmith2020@yahoo.com" target="_blank">klsmith2020@yahoo.com</a>></span>
          wrote:<br>
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
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                    Hi,<br>
                    <br>
                    Even though I have 64bit hardware I always install
                    the 32bit version of Linux.  I do so because of the
                    past discussions on this list that made me believe
                    the 32bit OS was better because 64bit caching is
                    actually slower due to the requirement that the
                    cache be filled to a certain point before it is
                    moved.  I think I recall something about the amount
                    of RAM having some effect here also. <br>
                  </td>
                </tr>
              </tbody>
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          </blockquote>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>The full questions of whether to use 64 bit OS verses 32
            bit are included below.  For instance with a Python based
            application, CPU performance gains (possible 10%) verses
            greater memory requirements (30%)  (in 64bit OS).</div>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>It is really going to depend on what the server is doing?
              Is that application actually optimized for 64 bit
            registers?  </div>
          <div><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(243,243,243)">
          </div>
          <div>Reference:  <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/7034/what-is-the-difference-between-32-bit-and-64-bit-and-which-should-i-choose">http://askubuntu.com/questions/7034/what-is-the-difference-between-32-bit-and-64-bit-and-which-should-i-choose</a></div>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>If you are running a database application, with more than
            4 GB RAM, you might find great speed improvement with
            memcached under 64bit.  </div>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div class="post-text" style="margin:0px 5px 5px
              0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;width:660px;line-height:18px;font-family:Arial,'Liberation
              Sans','DejaVu Sans',sans-serif">
              <p style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px 0px
1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word"><strong
style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">From
                  a technical perspective, a 64-bit OS gives you:</strong></p>
              <ul style="margin:0px 0px 1em
30px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;list-style-position:initial">
                <li
style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">Allows individual processes to address more
                    than 4 GB of RAM each (in practice, most but not all
                    32-bit OSes also limit the total usable system RAM
                    to less than 4 GB, not just the per-application
                    maximum). While a PAE kernel also does this; it is
                    significantly slower!</p>
                </li>
                <li
style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word"><span
                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font
                        color="#ff0000">All pointers take 8 bytes
                        instead of 4 bytes. The effect on RAM usage is
                        minimal (because you're not likely to have an
                        application filled with gigabytes of pointers),
                        but in the worst theoretical case, this can make
                        the CPU cache be able to hold 1/2 as many
                        pointers (making it be effectively 1/2 the
                        size). For most applications, this is not a huge
                        deal</font></span><span
                      style="color:rgb(255,255,255);background-color:rgb(255,0,0)">l.</span></p>
                </li>
                <li
style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    There are many more general-purpose CPU registers in
                    64-bit mode. Registers are the fastest memory in
                    your entire system. There are only 8 in 32-bit mode
                    and 16 general purpose registers in 64-bit mode. In
                    scientific computing applications I've written, I've
                    seen up to a 30% performance boost by recompiling in
                    64-bit mode (my application could really use the
                    extra registers).</p>
                </li>
                <li
style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    Most 32-bit OSes really only let individual
                    applications use 2 GB of RAM, even if you have 4 GB
                    installed. This is because the other 2 GB of address
                    space is reserved for sharing data between
                    applications, with the OS, and for communicating
                    with drivers. Windows and Linux will let you adjust
                    this tradeoff to be 3 GB for applications and 1 GB
                    shared, but this can cause problems for some
                    applications that don't expect the change. I'm also
                    guessing it might cripple a graphics card that has 1
                    GB of RAM (but I'm not sure). A 64-bit OS can give
                    individual 32-bit applications closer to the full 4
                    GB to play with.</p>
                </li>
              </ul>
              <p style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px 0px
1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word"><strong
style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">From
                  a user's perspective:</strong></p>
              <ul style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px 0px 1em
30px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;list-style-position:initial">
                <li
                  style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                  initial">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">Application speed is usually faster for a
                    64-bit application in a 64-bit OS compared to the
                    32-bit version of the application on a 32-bit OS,
                    but most users won't see this speed-up. Most
                    applications for normal users don't really take
                    advantage of the extra registers or the benefits are
                    balanced out by bigger pointers filling up the
                    cache.</p>
                </li>
                <li
                  style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                  initial">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    If you have any memory hog applications (like photo
                    editors, video processing, scientific computing,
                    etc.), if you have (or can buy) more than 3 GB of
                    RAM, and you can get a 64-bit version of the
                    application, the choice is easy: use the 64-bit OS.</p>
                </li>
                <li
                  style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                  initial">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    Some hardware doesn't have 64-bit drivers. Check
                    your motherboard, all plug-in cards, and all USB
                    devices before making the switch. Note that in the
                    early days of Windows Vista, there were lots of
                    problems with drivers. These days things are
                    generally better.  nVidia for instance is one of the
                    drivers optimized for 64bit which is extremely
                    faster.</p>
                </li>
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                  style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                  initial">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    If you run so many applications at a time that
                    you're running out of RAM (usually you can tell this
                    because your computer starts getting really slow and
                    you hear the hard disk drive crunching - indicating
                    your caching), then you'll want a 64-bit OS (and
                    sufficient RAM).</p>
                </li>
                <li
                  style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                  initial">
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    You can run 32-bit applications (but not drivers) in
                    64-bit land with no problems. The worst slowdown
                    I've measured for a 32-bit application in 64-bit
                    Windows is about 5% (meaning that if it took 60
                    seconds to do something in 32-bit, it took at most
                    60/0.95 = 63 seconds with the same 32-bit
                    application in 64-bit).</p>
                  <p style="margin:0px 0px
                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial"><br>
                  </p>
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                    1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;clear:both;word-wrap:break-word;background-repeat:initial
                    initial">
                    All in all, personally, Keith, I would install 64bit
                    CentOs 6 unless you have a better reason not to?</p>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                </li>
              </ul>
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          </div>
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
            .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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                  <td style="font:inherit" valign="top"><br>
                    Using a 32bit version over a 64bit version seems
                    counter intuitive, however that is what I have taken
                    away from these conversations about 32bit vs 64bit
                    Linux. <br>
                    <br>
                    I'm using CentOS 6.x on a LAMP server that gets a
                    low amount of traffic.   However I may make the jump
                    to Linux on my desktop this summer. (this will be my
                    3rd attempt to become M$ free except one VM so I can
                    use IE for testing) I think all of my hardware is
                    64bit.   <br>
                    <br>
                    So that begs the question, is 32bit better than
                    64bit or do I not understand the issue?<br>
                  </td>
                </tr>
              </tbody>
            </table>
          </blockquote>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>The issue is complex, but now in this new moment of time,
            a greater number of drivers are optimized for 64 bit
            registers.</div>
          <div> </div>
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
            .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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                  <td style="font:inherit" valign="top"><br>
                    Thank you for your feedback.<br>
                    <br>
                    Keith<br>
                    <br>
                    ------------------------<br>
                    Keith Smith</td>
                </tr>
              </tbody>
            </table>
            <br>
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          </blockquote>
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