[FC6] i386 or x86_64?

[Gilboa Davara]

On Mon, 2006-10-16 at 02:31 -0500, M.Lewis wrote:
> With the upcoming release of FC6, I'm wondering if anyone can offer 
> their thoughts on the x86_64 flavor. I've seen some discouraging posts 
> about x86_64. I'm wondering if there are positive thoughts about x86_64 
> as well.
> 
> Thanks,
> Mike

I'll try to make it short.
Performance:
At least on AMD Athlon64/Opteorn based machines x86_64 -is- fast. By how
much depends on type of software used. Core2 should give a lower boost
and 64bit P4/Xeon will suck badly in 64bit mode.

Software:
Everything 32bit runs in 64bit.
-However-, if you install a 64bit browser, you'll lose flash.
If you install a 64bit mplayer/xine, you'll lose the ability to use
32bit Windows codecs.

Stability.
As long as the kernel/drivers fully support your machine, 64bit rock
solid.

As for me, I usually setup a almost pure 64bit FC, leaving a small 32bit
chrooted partition just to run flash/win32codec if I -really- need em.
(I find that most sites are look much better once flash is disabled...
but YMMV)

- Gilboa