Kubuntu vs 64bit Kubuntu

[BeowulfSchaeffer]

Is there a compelling reason to run the 64bit version? I'm running an AMD64 3500+ I heard that there were some issues running some software under the 64bit

 

[Nothinman]

You won't be able to use binary-only 32-bit software without jumping through hoops. Things like flash, java (maybe just the browser plugin?), win32codecs, etc shouldn't work out of the box. It's possible that the Ubuntu people have included work arounds to make them work easier, but I can't say if they have or not since I don't have a 64-bit system.

 

[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.

 

[LordHunter317]

<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.<BR><BR><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.

 

[BeowulfSchaeffer]

LOL ^

 

[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.)

 

[LordHunter317]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shurik:<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. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I'm not aware of any of those cases where it wasn't running a 64-bit binary, but actually UT2K5 did perform worse on my Debian machine, usually about 10 FPS worse.<BR><BR>I blame nVidia drivers, personally.

 

[Fink_Ployd]

considering RDBMSs generally use 64 bit types all over the place, I've a hard time seeing how 64 bit procs wouldn't help them.