32bit Or 64 Bit?

I hope to get parts to build my new linux box tomorrow.

But I am unsure weather to go 32 or 64 bit.
Is going to 64 bit going to be worth it? As far as speed and hassle?
From what I have read it is hard to get a true 64 bit system.

I done a search and it didn't really give me a clear answer. Plus some of the posts were fairly old.

Harryc
You are running 64 bit what is your thoughts?

Here is what my specs for my box will be.
MSI K8NGM2-L AMD Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
1MB of ram
100 gig 7200 IDE HD
onboard...Video,sound and nic

If this is the wrong topic please move it.
Thanks

I hope to get parts to build my new linux box tomorrow.

But I am unsure weather to go 32 or 64 bit.
Is going to 64 bit going to be worth it? As far as speed and hassle?
From what I have read it is hard to get a true 64 bit system.

I done a search and it didn't really give me a clear answer. Plus some of the posts were fairly old.

Harryc
You are running 64 bit what is your thoughts?

Here is what my specs for my box will be.
MSI K8NGM2-L AMD Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
1MB of ram
100 gig 7200 IDE HD
onboard...Video,sound and nic

If this is the wrong topic please move it.
Thanks
[/b]

In my opinion, it depends on what are you going to use your Linux system for. If you are building large scale, numerically extensive, scientific computations - including Lapack, Blas or some other packages - which demand high execution speed, you might benefit from such a system (you need a 64 bit compiler)! On the other hand, 64 bit linux software is (if I'm not wrong) rather exotic - relatively hard to obtain?! I use 32 bit SUSE Linux 10.0 with KDE 3.5 on a 64 bit Intel Pentium III, 1 GB ram, 200 GB HDD (dual booting with WinXP) - this works great for me (as far as execution speed and application abundance goes). Have fun whatever system you chose.

...On the other hand, 64 bit linux software is (if I'm not wrong) rather exotic - relatively hard to obtain?! I use 32 bit SUSE Linux 10.0 with KDE 3.5 on a 64 bit Intel Pentium III, 1 GB ram, 200 GB HDD (dual booting with WinXP) - this works great for me (as far as execution speed and application abundance goes). Have fun whatever system you chose.
[/b]

I disagree that 64 bit software is exotic. Maybe 2 years ago but not anymore. Most programs have 64 bit versions and the ones that don't use a 32 bit library. The only issue one might have is with certain hardware like wireless cards. You need the 64 bit driver if running a 64 bit OS.

I agree that 64-bit isn't really exotic anymore. Soon, applications will probably be released that willbe 64-bit only.

I've heard that if you do alot of memory intensive work, like graphics editing or gaming, you should go 64-bit. If you only use your machine for web browsing and lite office work, keep it 32-bit. From what I have read, on memory intensive applications, a full 64-bit system can give a performace boost of as much as 20-30% over 32-bit.

You might want to note that there currently is no flash player for 64-bit Linux, as far as I know of. And it doesn'tlook like Adobe is going to release one any time soon.

I hope this helps and I wasn't just rambling B) .

I don't see why a 64 bit flash player or 64 bit acrobat reader should be necessary. 64 bit is necessary for applications that need/use more than 4 GB memory. And now everone whose desktop has more than 4 GB ram, raise their hand.

I don't want to talk anyone into not using 64 bit (I use it too), but don't make too much ado about it. It doesn't make much difference if you use 64 bit or not, at the moment. It will be in, say, 4 years, or so.

I ended up going with 32 bit for now. But when 10.2 comes out I will probably go the 64 bit route.
To be honest I still don't understand much 'bout 64-bit vs 32-bit implementation

I do have a question though 64 bit flash player or 64 bit acrobat reader and 64bit Firefox only comes in 32 bit.
So if you had to download these in 32 bit would you have a system that worked in 64bit Environment ?
It is my understanding If one 32bit module is involved then all will run at 32bit so there is no gain.


Thanks for all the replys so far

I ended up going with 32 bit for now. But when 10.2 comes out I will probably go the 64 bit route.
To be honest I still don't understand much 'bout 64-bit vs 32-bit implementation

I do have a question though 64 bit flash player or 64 bit acrobat reader and 64bit Firefox only comes in 32 bit.
So if you had to download these in 32 bit would you have a system that worked in 64bit Environment ?
It is my understanding If one 32bit module is involved then all will run at 32bit so there is no gain.
Thanks for all the replys so far
[/b]

You can run 32-bit programs in a 64-bit native environment. If you use a 32-bit program, it does not cause the entire system to suddenly revert to 32-bit. The only times you would have that is if your kernel was a 32-bit kernel or some of your really, really core libraries (like glibc, GTK+, or QT) were 32-bit libraries.

~~ Andrew D.