On 2007/10/10 11:20, Tony Abernethy wrote: > Siju George wrote: > <snip> > > > so you think a 20 ton truck is twice as fast as a 10 ton truck? > > O.K I get it :-) > > So when does changing from 32 bit to a 64-bit processor actually help? > > Quoting Paul de Weerd, > "In short: There is no short answer. It depends on what you're doing." > ( Not to mention how you do it ;-)
There are other changes between i386/amd64 than the number of bits (e.g. amd64 has more registers, which allows some other changes that can improve performance for some things), so it depends a lot on the code being run. You can't even always say, "software X is faster on arch Y", since the way you use that software can give different results. If you're looking for "fastest", just benchmark as close to real-life use on both, it's the easiest way. You also often need to test whether what you're trying to run does work correctly on !i386 arch (it's not uncommon for code to make assumptions which don't hold true on !i386). Of course, there are reasons other than "fastest" you might choose a particular arch. > Short answer: > When you *might* need more than a GB or so of RAM/swap. > Most anything is faster than stuck. > > Easy: 2:1 ratio *either direction* which is faster. > Hard: 10:1 ratio (again either direction). I'm not too sure I understand what you're saying here.
