From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Aug 22 14:40:50 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A0BFD16A420 for ; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:40:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from smtp-vbr11.xs4all.nl (smtp-vbr11.xs4all.nl [194.109.24.31]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D5F613C465 for ; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:40:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from slackbox.xs4all.nl (slackbox.xs4all.nl [213.84.242.160]) by smtp-vbr11.xs4all.nl (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l7MEekmj034110; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:40:46 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: by slackbox.xs4all.nl (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 6E112B833; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:40:46 +0200 (CEST) Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:40:46 +0200 From: Roland Smith To: "Arend P. van der Veen" Message-ID: <20070822144046.GA14552@slackbox.xs4all.nl> Mail-Followup-To: "Arend P. van der Veen" , FreeBSD Questions , "David J. Neu" References: <46CC32FA.3080900@att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="gKMricLos+KVdGMg" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <46CC32FA.3080900@att.net> X-GPG-Fingerprint: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 X-GPG-Key: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/pubkey.txt X-GPG-Notice: If this message is not signed, don't assume I sent it! User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) X-Virus-Scanned: by XS4ALL Virus Scanner Cc: "David J. Neu" , FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: AMD64 vs i386 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:40:50 -0000 --gKMricLos+KVdGMg Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, Aug 22, 2007 at 08:58:34AM -0400, Arend P. van der Veen wrote: > - Will the AMD64 based FreeBSD 6.2 distribution with applications such as= =20 > Postgresql, Apache, Python, Tomcat and SBCL be able to take advantage of= =20 > the 64-bit quad processor? Yes, if you compile them natively on AMD64. Whether this results in speedups depends on a lot of factors. Instruction words on AMD64 are longer than i386, so binaries tend to be bigger, but on the other hand you've got more general purpose registers. The general consensus seems to be that you _need_ AMD64 if you routinely run out of address space. In other situations it can be nice to have, but it depends on the apps and the workload. I've been using an AMD64 system as my main desktop machine for years without problems. There are some ports that won't work, but that's mostly x86 binaries like the flash plugin and nvidia drivers. Both of which I can well live without. Roland --=20 R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) --gKMricLos+KVdGMg Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFGzEruEnfvsMMhpyURAiacAJ9cNCS9o+rzsvpjzcRq3YnKevEcTQCghiyf 0ifIs+Y97yLP/OOsVQhun4s= =oZ79 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --gKMricLos+KVdGMg--