From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 22 23:55:28 2010 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 3EB47106568D for ; Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:55:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@m.gmane.org) Received: from lo.gmane.org (lo.gmane.org [80.91.229.12]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C115A8FC26 for ; Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:55:27 +0000 (UTC) Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.50) id 1NYTLZ-0008Pa-3t for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:55:25 +0100 Received: from 93-138-99-190.adsl.net.t-com.hr ([93.138.99.190]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:55:25 +0100 Received: from ivoras by 93-138-99-190.adsl.net.t-com.hr with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:55:25 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: Ivan Voras Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:54:58 +0100 Lines: 40 Message-ID: References: <560f92641001221524n1290e70fi51d766e8e0f488bf@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 93-138-99-190.adsl.net.t-com.hr User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 (X11/20090612) In-Reply-To: <560f92641001221524n1290e70fi51d766e8e0f488bf@mail.gmail.com> Sender: news Subject: Re: FreeBSD 8.0 amd64 on Nehelem Xeon? 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, 22 Jan 2010 23:55:28 -0000 Nerius Landys wrote: > I'm in the process of purchasing a small Nehelem-based server (Xeon > L5506 CPU to be exact). I will be installing some flavor of FreeBSD > 8.0 (either i386 32 bit or amd64 64 bit, to be exact). I have no > immediate need for a 64 bit server, as none of the processes that I > will be running in the forseeable future will require more than 3 gigs > of memory. My primary use for the server (which will be in a data > center) will be to run video games servers; the exact game I'll be > running is based on the ioquake3 open source engine, which compiles > and runs fine on FreeBSD, at least 32 bit (have not tried 64 bit > FreeBSD yet, but will get around to that). > > My two concerns when making a decision between 32 bit and 64 bit are: > > 1. Performance. Will there be any difference in performance between a > 64 bit OS and 32 bit on my Nehelem? Probably not so much that you would notice (i.e. not something the users would immediately feel) - for general loads we're talking about low percentages in either direction. But installing a 64-bit OS is more like planning for the future. Maybe you will need more RAM for some application and then you will be stuck with a 32-bit OS. > 2. Availability of software. Will some software run only on 32 bit? > Only on 64 bit? There probably are some. If you are only interested in FreeBSD ports, you can make a list of which ports you need and then inspect their Makefiles to see if there's a flag disabling them on the amd64 architecture. Another option is that you bring up a 32-bit-only jail and run your 32-bit applications from it. Additional information for Nehalems is that you should stick to the more widely available models - the 4 core+HTT ones. Some of the more exotic ones (6 core) might have problems with ULE and topology guesswork. http://suckit.blog.hu/2009/10/05/freebsd_8_is_it_worth_to_upgrade