Keith,

You and I have discussed this in the past. I have always been a proponent of 32-bit over 64-bit because 32 is a little faster.If you have one or two GB of ram, then that is true. But if the computer has more than 2 GB of ram it will get some benefits of being 64-bit. But if your system has 4 GB or more, you will likely notice a speed difference. About a year ago, when I moved back to linux from windows, I went all 64-bit and I've not had any troubles.

You may not notice a difference, but your kernel will be happier. The are three styles of kernels.

(1) 32-bit kernels built for 1 or 2 GB of ram. These kernels do not have PAE enabled and are very fast. (PAE = Physical Address Extensions) meaning it allows to use more memory on a 32 bit system which really cannot use that memory otherwise. It's like fake 64-bit.

(2) 32-bit kernels built for more than 2 GB of ram. These kernels have PAE enabled. I have read several articles now from people who have done tests, as well as some reputable websites, that agree that PAE enabled kernels are the slowest of the bunch. Addressing 64-bit memory space while operating in a 32-bit environment takes a lot of tricks and creates some over-head.

(3) 64-bit kernels are the fastest in all tests performed. These do not play the PAE tricks as they are native and can address all memory space properly.

You as a user may not notice the difference in how any of the kernels work, so it may be moot to you. But in the end, I would recommend you go 64-bit anyway.

Nathan

On Friday, May 31, 2013 09:28:01 keith smith wrote:

Hi,

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.

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.

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.

So that begs the question, is 32bit better than 64bit or do I not understand the issue?

Thank you for your feedback.

Keith

------------------------
Keith Smith

Regards,

Nathan England

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