From owner-freebsd-amd64@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Oct 11 12:45:13 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7AF0716A519 for ; Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:45:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jasen.gibson@ge.com) Received: from ext-ch1gw-7.online-age.net (ext-ch1gw-7.online-age.net [64.37.194.15]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CD2E443DDC for ; Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:44:22 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jasen.gibson@ge.com) Received: from int-ch1gw-4.online-age.net (int-ch1gw-4 [3.159.232.68]) by ext-ch1gw-7.online-age.net (8.13.6/8.13.6/20051111-SVVS-TLS-DNSBL) with ESMTP id k9BClS1r027301 for ; Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:47:28 -0400 Received: from cinmlef12.e2k.ad.ge.com (int-ch1gw-4 [3.159.232.68]) by int-ch1gw-4.online-age.net (8.13.6/8.13.6/20050510-SVVS) with ESMTP id k9BCi01q012360 for ; Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:44:00 -0400 (EDT) Received: from LOUMLVEM05.e2k.ad.ge.com ([3.159.160.56]) by cinmlef12.e2k.ad.ge.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2499); Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:44:11 -0400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5 Content-class: urn:content-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:44:10 -0400 Message-ID: <11A5C7FB9726324A8ACCF5C0922195E91956C6@LOUMLVEM05.e2k.ad.ge.com> In-Reply-To: <20061011120033.C8E1F16A51C@hub.freebsd.org> X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: freebsd-amd64 Digest, Vol 175, Issue 3 Thread-Index: AcbtLP9h2R4/eOgrRnKZ+0Hl1nr0oAAApYrA From: "Gibson, Jasen \(GE Indust, ConsInd, consultant\)" To: , X-OriginalArrivalTime: 11 Oct 2006 12:44:11.0492 (UTC) FILETIME=[F36EF240:01C6ED32] Cc: Subject: RE: To amd64 or not to amd64? X-BeenThere: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the AMD64 platform List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:45:13 -0000 -----Original Message----- >Well, probably this question was discussed here many times, but the = last thread about "transiting from i386 to >amd64" dated year 2004, so it's very posible things change since that = time... > >I've just upgraded my home comp from AMD Sempron to Athlon64. Only CPU = upgrade, nothing else. > >I've booted my old good i386-arched FreeBSD 6.1 and it looks like it = works fine. >The question is: will I have any benefits if I'll move to amd64 system, = or it's safer and better to stay with i386 >arch? > >About 50% of time my children use it to watch movies (DVD, DivX, = MPEG-4). >From the rest I use it for working at home (RadRails, KDevelop, a lot = of C/C++ compilation), and my wife use it to >access Internet and use = OpenOffice. > >Problem-free operation and stability have precedense for me over system = speed. >Even more detail: AFAIK there is no amd64 NVidia driver for direct = rendering available, is it correct? > >And one side question: will I benefit if I move to amd64 system and = install gcc-4.1, over current gcc-3.4.4 that=20 >came with system? >And the same - if I'll stay in i386 mode but upgrade to gcc-4.1? >I mean here both compilation speed and efficiency of generated code. I can't answer all of your specific questions, as I do not use FreeBSD = as a desktop system, but I can tell you that the current release of the = amd64 port is just as stable as the i386 for me. I switched from an AthlonMP system to an Opteron platform for a = production server. I ran both the 32-bit and 64-bit ports on the new = system during the testing phase, and they pretty much seemed identical = in terms of stability. I didn't benchmark to see if there was much = performance difference, but I doubt that there was. I'm using the = server for Apache and Mysql. The other main benefit besides the 4GB limit is that the 64-bit = extensions give you more register space, which could significantly speed = up computational-heavy applications. Things like webbrowsers or = OpenOffice, not so much. I'd imagine a compiler would fit that category = though. There is no amd64 nVidia driver yet, which is annoying. They released = one for Linux, just not FreeBSD yet. If that's important, then i386 may = be the best bet for you.