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Possible Duplicate:
Should I install 64-bit Ubuntu if my hardware supports it?

I am curently using ubuntu 11.04 32 bit recently i upgrade my processor to 1.8GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 Dual Core should i use ubuntu 64 bit instead of the 32 bit?

Thank you

Community
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Javier Gonzalez
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3 Answers3

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It depends. If you have 2GBs of RAM or less, you should probably stick with 32-bits, as 64-bit applications use more memory and some apps don't have 64-bit versions (you may run most 32-bit apps by installing ia32-libs, however)

If you have 4GBs or more of RAM, however, you should definitely move to 64-bit. The 32-bit kernel can't address more than 3GBs of RAM on most computers, and although you can install the PAE kernel which can address +3GBs of RAM, the future is obviously 64-bit :)

mikelpr
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Congratulations! It sounds like you have a nice system.

I started out with the 32-bit version because it was my first time with Ubuntu (and Linux) and that was the recommended download, but after using it for awhile I decided to see how the 64-bit version would perform (I had the RAM and the processor for it). I found that the 64-bit version was sometimes slightly faster, and it has been very stable (so was the 32-bit version). I have been told that there are a few things that don't run on the 64-bit version, but I haven't found anything that wouldn't run on it except for one piece of hardware.

It was a Linksys USB wireless antenna. Finding the 32-bit drivers had been tough and then installation was somewhat involved (for someone new to Linux), but it worked. I could not get it to work at all with 64-bit Ubuntu. Fortunately, I didn't really need it and so have been pleased to stay with the 64-bit Ubuntu.

However, you should be careful of such things. If you have room (and I imagine you do), install 64-bit Ubuntu alongside the 32-bit version and see if everything works, and it'll also give you the opportunity to compare speed and stability.

Kelley
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You should definitely go with 64-bit. 2 Years ago I would have cautioned against this due to lack of support for certain applications and hardware devices but now this is almost a non-issue. When you use a 64-bit OS, you can use 16GB RAM, which is great for actualization (running multiple operating systems concurrently under your Linux installation).

Android Eve
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