64 bit installation vs 32 bit.

[gejr]

I have a AMD Athlon 64 3700+..Does this mean I have to install the AMD64 version? I hear that might be a problem when using Wine..is it so that the 32 bit version won't work on my system? What's the pros/cons of these two? I don't understand this thing very well...Can anyone help clearing up things for me?:)

[Jazzyjazz]

From what I could gather:

If you have an amd64 processor (like me) then no, you don't have have per se to install the 64 version and you can install the 32 version. However you will be running you system on 32 bit and loose the 64bit performance of your processor.

You can however emulate the 32bit in the 64bit version and as such be able to run certain programs that only run on 32bit.

I personally installed the 64 version and and I'm trying to find out how to run the "difficult" programs. If you browse this forum a bit, there are a lot of posts regarding running 32 apps for 64 which are quite usefull to get your system up and running :)

About cedega/wine, I haven't looked into it yet since the only game I installed so far on my system is UT2k4 :)

[rplantz]

32-bit code runs just fine on an amd64.

In general, if your primary interest is running applications, install 32-bit.

If you like playing with the computer itself and enjoy solving computer problems (like me), then install 64-bit.

If you want to be able to run specific applications, search the forum to see what others have done.

It is possible to install a 32-bit environment on a 64-bit installation using the chroot mechanism. There are excellent instructions on forum.

As for speed differences, I'm quite sure that I just used a month's worth of 64-bit time savings on writing this post. :) Seriously, unless you're doing some serious number crunching, you're probably looking at a second or two here and there, at most.

[gejr]

thank you both..i think i'll go for the 32 bit version then:)