[CentOS] i386 or x86_64 installation

[Peter Serwe]

Peter Kjellstrom wrote:
> On Monday 22 January 2007 17:05, Matt wrote:
>   
>> What are advantages of 64 bit OS anyway?  I was thinking with i386 the
>> max RAM you could have was like 4 gigabyte or something?  64 bit
>> allows quite a bit more, right?
>>     
>
> You can have alot of RAM even in a 32-bit system. However, there is also the 
> issue of efficiency and applications being able to actually use alot of 
> memory. Here are some random bits of information on the subject:
>
> * you can have alot more than 4G on 32-bit with pae (hugemem kernels)
> * ...but, already at ~900M 32-bit has to start using highmem
> * ...which can cause problems for (old and badly designed) applications 
> already at ~900M
> * 32-bit EL kernels have 4K kernel stacks, 64-bit has 8K, affects eg. XFS
>
>   
>> I am upgrading a very heavilly used email server to a AMD64 dual core
>> with CentOS.  I am staying with i386 since the web GUI we use lists
>> 64bit support as beta and I do not want any problems.
>>     
>
> Not a bad choice, software functionality is probably one of the biggest 
> differences between 32- and 64-bit.
>
> /Peter
>   
Somebody feel free to slap me upside the head if I'm wrong, but as I 
understand it,
you can utilize up to 16GB on the standard SMP kernel.  The bigmem 
kernel allows
up to 64GB, IIRC.

I have no idea the RAM limits on the x86_64 kernel.  Didn't look.

Peter

-- 
Peter Serwe <peter at infostreet dot com>

http://www.infostreet.com

"The only true sports are bullfighting, mountain climbing and auto racing." -Earnest Hemingway

"Because everything else requires only one ball." -Unknown

"Do you wanna go fast or suck?" -Mike Kojima

"There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make love." -Sir Stirling Moss