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64-bit

George PatchesGeorge Patches
edited December 2007 in Technology
So I'm curious what everyones' thoughts on 64-bit x86 architecture are. A couple weeks ago I moved from i386 Gutsy to AMD64 Gutsy on my laptop (2.0GHz AMD, 1 GB RAM) and it's noticeably faster and just generally better this way. The only issue was flash support, which there's a script on the Ubuntu forums that installs 32-bit firefox and flash. This next comment get me flamed, but oh well, 64-bit Vista is a good OS. It's stable, loads relatively quickly on my old AMD dual core with 2GB of RAM, and plays all the games I want to play without issue.

So I think 64-bit, after 4 years, is finally ready for the desktop market.

Comments

  • AprecheApreche
    64-bit is good, when it works. In general, though, I've found that it's just easier to use the 32 bit stuff even if your CPU is 64-bit. Sure, there's a handy script for Flash and Firefox, but you will have problems with other things down the road. For me, whatever slight performance boost is not worth the pain in the ass.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    edited December 2007
    What did you have issues with? While I've had no issues with Linux yet, the only issue with Vista x64 is you can't disable the driver signature enforcement permanently. That's more of an annoyance than an actual incompatibility. Oh, and Vista x64 doesn't support 4GB right out of the box, you need a patch to run more than 2. I found that hilarious.

    And there's the obvious plus of being able to use 4GB of RAM, really nice considering how cheap DDR2 is these days.
    Post edited by George Patches on
  • AprecheApreche
    Well, first of all 2 gigs of RAM is more than enough for anything I do nowadays, and I'm a really techy person. Also, it's not so much that anything is broken. The problem is that you don't have the same selection of software. If you use a 32 bit OS, then you can use any software you can find. If you use a 64-bit OS, there is some software you won't be able to make work. There is also some other software that will only work if you do a bunch of pain in the ass stuff. For me, I'd rather just have all the software available and working easily, even if it means I have to give up a small performance boost.
  • am_dragonam_dragon
    My MythTV box is on 64-bit Ubuntu (Mythbuntu). It's suppose make a noticeable difference on video transcodes. The box is dedicated to a set purpose so I don't think I will run into problems running 64-bit. I have not run into any so far. Since I've got it set up to do transcoding behind the scenes I don't know that I would notice either way. I went 64-bit just to see, not for any performance gains.

    My point being depending on your use 64-bit could be fine. If you have a multi-purpose desktop and constantly want to try new software, or plug in different hardware, I would go with 32-bit. Try 64-bit for a while you can always backup your data and reload if it doesn't work out.
  • AprecheApreche
    Yeah, with a single purpose box like MythTV or a web server that only uses a few apps which are guaranteed to work with 64-bit, then totally go for it.
  • SymmetrySymmetry
    Huh, I'm running 64-bit Gutsy on my desktop right now, and the package I got out of the repository was actually able to put the wrapper around flash and such all by itself. I just went to YouTube, clicked on the prompts, and everything Just Worked (TM).
  • thehollow89thehollow89
    I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 and 64-bit Ubuntu and I almost never have a problem. Most problems, when I have them, are that some software still isn't compatible with Windows 7. Cell phone drivers for obscure phones for example, or some USB devices. Overall though, it's much better than it was a few years ago.
  • holtvgholtvg
    Primary advantage of 64 bit os is that they can address more than 4gb of memory at a time but you'll be using more memory to store 64 bit addresses but applications optimized for 64 bit will load and run faster given you have a x86-64 capable processor.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Oh the threads from long ago...the stupid! IT BURNS!!!
  • AprecheApreche
    Oh the threads from long ago...the stupid! IT BURNS!!!
    Yeah, nowadays 64-bit just works. No problems here.
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