[mdlug] [Fwd: Re: [opensuse] 64 bit vrs 32 bit advantages speed etc.]

[Adam Tauno Williams]

>>> Has anyone run benchmarks on an identical system with 32 bit vrs 64 bit?

I haven't run "benchmarks", but I've run tests.  The plain and simple is
that for the *vast* majority of workloads 64-bit offers no noticeable
advantage, and usually a barely measurable difference.  I've even seen
64-bit run slower than 32-bit, especially if your application deals
mostly with parsing and dealing with strings.

The real advantage of 64-bit is a larger address space,  which most apps
just don't need.   It *might* be faster at some other things, like
context switching, but not necessarily so, and it is going to depend on
a myriad of other factors.

A good rule is to run 64-bit if you have an app that can effectively use
a BIG address space, like PostgreSQL,  otherwise it probably isn't worth
the bother until everything is 64-bit (since doing the
this-is-32bit-that-is-64bit dance on a host is a pain).

-- 
Adam Tauno Williams, Network & Systems Administrator
Consultant - http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com
Developer - http://www.opengroupware.org