On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 11:40:50AM -0500, Alecks Gates wrote > What are the benefits and drawbacks of using the x32 ABI, other than > the obvious "experimental" cautions? I currently do not have a > computer with more than 4GB of ram, and one only has 2GB (used as a > media center).
In theory, real life is identical to theory. In real life, real life is different from theory. A 32-bit system can directly address 4 gigs of memory. The problem is that the 4 gigs includes your video ram. So you lose part of the top end of your 4 gigs of ram, to make room for your video card's ram. This is true for both linux and Windows. A bit over 3 gigs is the effective memory max for 32-bit systems. 32-bit linux can access the extra ram for data storage, via some jumping through flaming hoops, but it's slower than direct addressing via 64-bit mode. If you have 4 gigs on a machine, it's a candidate for 64-bit mode. -- Walter Dnes <waltd...@waltdnes.org>
