i7 920 & asus p6t: 32 or 64 bits installation?

paulomazo

Dear All,

I've been using Gentoo for some years and always on 32bits hardware. I just purchased an i7 920 / p6t se/ 6 GB RAM/ ati hd 4890 desktop and I intend not to use any RAID by now. I read some info about pros and cons regarding using 64 bits vs 32 bits but I am still not sure about what installation choose. I will use this computer only for entertainment progs, like amarok, firefox, mplayer, skype and vmware with a virtual windows xp (because of my wife).

What do you suggest in my case?
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Paulo Mazo

EzInKy · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1742 Location: Kentucky

Unless you plan on use PAE to access memory over 4gb you'll want to go 64bit. Multilib is default so you'll still be able to run 32bit programs.
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paulomazo · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the answer man!

Ok, I guess it will be a good experience discarding 32 bit (with PAE) and go to a 64 bit install.

But what about the performance increase for this kind of apps that I am using? Does anybody have any kind of benchmark info about 32bit vs 64bit?

Thanks again..
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Paulo Mazo

d2_racing · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:36 pm Post subject:

Go for a 64 bit installation with the default amd64/desktop profile

Jaglover · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:38 pm Post subject:

With applications you have listed on an i7 there is no performance difference. Only a few programs actually run faster on 64bit, media encoding is one of them - it's about 30% faster. And you really don't need 6 GB of RAM for Linux desktop (will your car run faster is you fit 10 wheels on it instead of factory 4). Well, maybe you want to run 10 virtual machines same time ...

Jaglover · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:52 pm Post subject:

Looking at this thread and thinking ... there were times when every new CPU was more powerful and desirable. I remember switching from 8 MHz 286 to 40 MHz 386. What a performance boost it was. But those times are over. For desktop usage low-power cool'n'quiet boxes make much more sense. They are small, too. VIA, Intel Atom, with SSE3 instruction set they have enough computing power to do all multimedia and internet stuff. With Gentoo 1 GB of RAM on these is more than sufficient. Plus they are environmentally friendly (and energy bill friendly).

paulomazo · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 1:47 am Post subject:

Jaglover, I totally agree with you comments. For common users, newer computers don't mean to much performance improvement like it used to be in the past.

Indeed I would never need a so powerful system just to use amarok, web browsing, watching movies, etc. Of course I'm also going to have a dual boot with windows just to play some games.

I am very conservative about trying new technology. I am jumping from an old Pentium 4 with some M/B problems (6 years of use) to this i7 just because in my last trip to Japan (for a training on the company I work) I couldn't resist the very low prices compared to my country prices.
For some years I guess I will not think about computer upgrades again...
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Paulo Mazo

cyrillic · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 2:26 am Post subject:

Jaglover · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 2:37 am Post subject:

Right, and get tickets because everybody but you is convinced you don't have to go faster. :roll:

Trust me on this, my Jag has 12 cylinders ...

tgR10 · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:16 am Post subject:

so i'll compare mysefl as a bicyclist to all your 12 cil car's :)

myself - i would go unstable 64bit multilib profile with zen-sources and try bfs as i/o and cpu scheduler, i didn't test it yet on x86_64 but for x86 work a litle bit faster than the linux default
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Jaglover · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:18 am Post subject:

Well, the bottom line is if you need power then you better get it.

"If" is the key word here.

@tgR10, if you feel you gotta get smoke out of that box, here's something for you:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-309752-highlight-ricer.html

:wink:

tgR10 · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:35 am Post subject:

eccerr0r · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:28 am Post subject:

car analogies to RAM just doesn't work very well... having a bigger car lets you work with..oh that doesn't work either...

I'm still using 32-bit on my core2's (em64t capable, and they do have 4GB RAM each) mainly due to not wanting to deal with mixed 32/64 bit libraries on the system - I still have other 32-bit boxes too that would be nice if I needed to swap binaries due to mishap or whatnot. Also because inevitably it can interfere with stuff like wine and flashplayer (at least in the past?) as well as any other unfortunate binary only stuff...
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Jaglover · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:04 am Post subject:

paulomazo,

there is something I forgot to tell.

Have no doubts, if you are happy with your computer then it's right for you!

fangorn · Veteran Joined: 31 Jul 2004 Posts: 1886

I am using amd64 multilib for many years now. Be it on Desktops, servers, Crunchers (core i7 920, 12 GB RAM), ...

If you ask me it does not make sense to restrict a core i7 to 32bit.

Sooner or later you will start using the performance at hand - and if it is just to have a reason for the quite high energy bill these babies produce (compared with my standard config Athlon X2 BE with 780G or other integrated graphics chipset).
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d2_racing · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:49 pm Post subject:

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

d2_racing · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:32 pm Post subject:

In fact, but since Intel and AMD built 64 bits CPU, why not use them à 100%

fangorn · Veteran Joined: 31 Jul 2004 Posts: 1886

I can use the 32bit and the 64bit versions of programs. Some benefit greatly from 64bit (x264, openssl, disk encryption), some don't. But if you go pure 32bit you don't have the options.

In some very special cases you have to do extra steps to get 32bit software running. But I had that in just one case in many years. (Gimageview did not compile in 64bit and compiled in a 32bit chroot and moved to the 64bit version there was one library missing. Nothing that can't be done. :wink:

)
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cach0rr0 · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:06 am Post subject:

pretty sure I would cry if someone ran a 32bit install with an i7

64bit multilib, easy
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krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5909

fangorn · Veteran Joined: 31 Jul 2004 Posts: 1886

waste of energy and annoying to the ears. I have one and layed special interest in a quiet system. It is annoyingly loud compared to my "Server" that runs 7 harddiscs in a hardware RAID5, which is barely recognizable in the living room and uses three times the energy.

"If you don't use it, don't use it." :twisted:

If you just want to listen to music and play a little sudoku, buy a VIA Epia as second computer (Under 15 Watts for the whole box). If it shall be usefull for a little more, buy a AMD system with BE CPU and chipset graphics (under 250 Euro here in Germany, under 60 Watts for the whole box and you have to seriously fuck up at building to make it "loud") and use this instead of the monster box. The second setup I use for everything besides 3D Egoshooters or HD video conversion.
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d2_racing · Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:55 pm Post subject:

d2_racing · Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:56 pm Post subject:

@krinn, so you own a Jetta instead of a Bugatti