From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Dec 26 17:13:04 2008 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 AAB4E1065673 for ; Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:13:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from timothyk@wallnet.com) Received: from mta5.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (mta5.srv.hcvlny.cv.net [167.206.4.200]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7E1AE8FC1C for ; Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:13:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from timothyk@wallnet.com) Received: from www.smsd.tv (ool-18bb7953.dyn.optonline.net [24.187.121.83]) by mta5.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-8.04 (built Feb 28 2007)) with ESMTP id <0KCH00GZ5UHRB440@mta5.srv.hcvlny.cv.net> for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:13:03 -0500 (EST) Received: from tim-kellerss-macbook-pro.local ([10.10.10.10]) by www.smsd.tv (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id mBQHD2TG081634; Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:13:02 -0500 (EST envelope-from timothyk@wallnet.com) Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:12:57 -0500 From: Tim Kellers In-reply-to: <20081226144759.GA3715@lpthe.jussieu.fr> To: Michel Talon Message-id: <49551099.5070902@wallnet.com> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.0 (www.smsd.tv [192.168.1.105]); Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:13:03 -0500 (EST) References: <20081226144759.GA3715@lpthe.jussieu.fr> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.18 (Macintosh/20081105) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Dell 2850 use 32 or 64 bit? 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: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:13:04 -0000 Michel Talon wrote: > Tim Kellers wrote: > >> Thanks for the reply. I already know it is 64 bit capable. I 'm >> interested in finding out if their are measurable performance advantages >> to running it using 64 v 32 bit FreeBSD. >> > > For the type of use of the OP (databases, etc.) i don't know, but > for scientific computations we observe a massive performance advantage > running in 64 bits mode (by this i mean more than 20%, i have seen some > Maple formal computations run 100% faster). The only problem with > 64 bits mode is that some ports may have problems, but, as far as i > know, these ports are more desktop oriented than server oriented. For a > server i don't see a reason to run in 32 bits mode. Contrary to > some frequent assertions the increase in size of binaries is > extremely limited as can easily be checked. This is very largely > compensated by the increase in the number of registers. The possibility > of using more than 4 gigs memory is just one advantage of 64 bits mode, > and by the way, very few of our machines have more than 4 gigs memory, > and they don't lack it at all. > > > Thanks, that was exactly what I needed to know. There won't be any Desktop apps on this machine and optimal performance is what I am after. Tim