Kubuntu vs 64bit Kubuntu

[shurik]

64-bit is significantly better for games and databases. 64-bit is also better if you are paranoid: with 16 general-purpose registers, various stack smashing protection schemes, for instance, don't hurt your performance as much as in 32-bit mode. But for a typical app, the performance benefit is somewhat questionable (you get 8 more registers, however all your pointers are suddenly twice their former size, so your programs will use noticeably more memory). For grandmother-desktop useage (web browser and an office suite), 64-bit is IMHO counterproductive.<BR><BR>If you do decide to go 64-bit, be aware that you will need to jump through some hoops to get binary-only software (flash, java, google earth etc.) working.

 

[shurik]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LordHunter317:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shurik:<BR>64-bit is significantly better for games and databases. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>No, neither is necessarily true. It entirely depends on what you're doing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>LH, I am not aware of a single benchmark where a modern game on a machine in 64-bit mode did not get higher fps than on the same machine in 32-bit mode. But perhaps you know more than me about the subject, and might be willing to give us a link?<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">64-bit is also better if you are paranoid: with 16 general-purpose registers, various stack smashing protection schemes, for instance, don't hurt your performance as much as in 32-bit mode. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>No, that's not necessarily true either. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Ah. Yes, I misspoke, 8 more registers won't help with stack smashing protection schemes like propolice. However, they do help a lot with making position-independent executables fast. On x86, PIE reserves the ebx register, which doesn't leave a lot of registers for the assembly writer (or the compiler, for that matter). As a result, on x86 multimedia programs/libraries, for performance reasons, are almost always not PIE. Non-multimedia software can be PIE on x86, but due to dearth of registers it takes a performance hit. However, having 16 general-purpose registers greatly mitigates this problem. (I had mixed up PIE and SSP because Gentoo Hardened enables both by default.)