64 bit vs. 32 bit Ubuntu

[cfmcguire]

As most of you know, I went ahead and installed Ubuntu on my AMD dual core machine. Now the question arises: Should I install the 64 bit version and take advantage of all 4 gigs of RAM, or should I just cruise with the 32 bit version for a while? Inquiring minds want to know....

[aysiu]

This thread should help:
How many people actually take advantage of their 64bit processor?

[kd7swh]

what are you doing with the computer? if you are encoding video with ffmpeg or running cedgea (hard core gaming) than the 64-bit maybe a good idea but for most people it makes little difference.

I like the 32-bit versions better most of the time. the packages for i386 seem more stable to me. I don't know why.

[cfmcguire]

Nearly a year and a half after posting this question, I think that I have gotten my answer. I picked up the Linux Pro magazine Ubuntu special edition, and just for yuks installed the 64 bit version. (For evaluation, don't you know Heavily script dependent applications like google mail load a whole lot faster than they do on the 32 bit version of Ubuntu 8.04.

[ScottMorris]

I recently found a review comparing Ubuntu, Vista and Windows 7 to reach other. One of the cool things they did was compare the x86 (32-bit) to the x86_64 (64-bit) versions. http://www.tuxradar.com/node/33

I know this is kind of late to be posting this, but for anyone looking for info about 64-bit vs. 32-bit it may help the decision process.

[lordmorgoth]

honestly from personal experience, i never noticed a performance boost with x64 releases.

However what bothered me that my x64 bit installation(s) of 9.04 crashed every single time after installing new packages/updates.

It could be a hardware compatibility problem, but I should mention that I have been using the 32 bit releases and i never faced that particular problem . . .

For now i advise you to stick to 32-bit releases, you wont be using the 4 GB RAM anyways (most probably), and it'll saves you the painful efforts of finding some nasty hardware drivers (like me web cam for example) - which u can always compile from scratch if u want -.