Does it make sense to install 64 bit Linux for a workstation?

Question

linux

Does it make sense to install 64 bit Linux if you can install 32 bit with PAE support?
Perhaps there is some performance improvement from installing 64-bit, while some applications (for example Skype) have only a 32-bit version, which load memory with duplicate shared libraries.

Answer 1

to put a 32-bit system on hardware that supports 64-bit, in my opinion, it makes sense only when the RAM is less than or equal to 4 gigabytes, yes, you can of course use a crutch in the form of PAE, but the system itself starts to spend more time when accessing memory.
There are pros and cons to each approach, but given that the world is increasingly moving towards 64-bit systems, the choice should become obvious.
tyts

Answer 2

if you do not have applications that require more than 4 gigs of RAM (databases, caches, etc.), then PAE is enough. You will not notice any performance gain, although 64-bit systems are considered to be slightly faster.

Answer 3

I think that there is a point, even though I'm not strong in hardware. Well, Skype does not use all the capabilities of processors, well, figs with it, but there are other programs that use and send 64 bits of memory per cycle, so for such programs it makes sense to set them, because. they will run faster.

Answer 4

Pros:
- x86-64 is considered a more secure architecture. In a 64-bit address space, in particular, ASLR (Address Space Randomization) works better, which in theory makes exploiting some vulnerabilities more difficult.
- Linux for x86-64 is compiled with additional SSE optimizations, since SSE is present in all 64-bit architectures. Mathematical software will be faster, but you can also compile under 32 bits with SSE (hello Gent).
Cons:
- Steam and games are still in the stone age. No one thinks about safety and reliability there, you will play on x86-64 - get ready to solve strange problems like "the game works from one hard drive, but does not work from another".
- Skype - tinker with libraries for it, however, you can conjure all the dependencies in one folder and run it from LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
- Memory consumption is slightly higher than 32 bit. Plus, all the old 32-bit junk will hang like a stone in RAM and consume hard disk space (in the case of Skype, the overrun can be 200 megabytes).
- Some discovered vulnerabilities concern only x86-64, since programmers are not yet very good at 64-bit mode and sculpt typical errors for this architecture. Considering that all the software came from the 32-bit world, there will be many more such errors.

Answer 5

Pros:
- addressing more than 4GB of memory with one program
- software is compiled with support for modern extensions of processor instructions, sometimes it can be faster
- 32-bit software runs smoothly. I haven't encountered any problems with Skype
- some software is only 64-bit
Cons:
- eats more memory, because the pointers are thicker. For systems with <= 4Gb it doesn't make much sense

Answer 6

Linux should always run on hardware in its native mode, this is an axiom. Therefore, on 64-bit hardware, you should always install a 64-bit distribution kit without talking. Especially on a workstation, which is generally accepted to work, and not to play around. Yes, there may be problems with Skype, but it does not pull many 32-bit libraries with it, you need to configure the paths for it once.