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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

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  • What about RAM Memory, how much do you have?
    – jochy2525
    Aug 17, 2011 at 20:09
  • What would be your objective? Performance? Watch flash videos?
    – desgua
    Aug 17, 2011 at 21:20
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    I was using 32 bit a year back was all good but wanted to compile android so have to switch to 64 bit system (I was cautious and kept both 32 and 64 bit installations). However using 64 bit for last 6-8 months didn't require any special packages/configuration, I can even play flash nicely (sometime embedded videos in FF are bit off), In all I've not logged in my 32 bit system for as long as I know. Next upgrade I would completely remove 32 bit system. So 1. Yes you can easily shift to 64 bit system and 2. You don't need any extra packages Have fun :)
    – wisemonkey
    Aug 18, 2011 at 1:04
  • Thanks for everyone comment, i decide to keep Ubuntu 32 bit Aug 18, 2011 at 2:36

3 Answers 3

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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 :)

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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).

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  • Thank you for your comment. Since i only have 3 GB of ram right now i will keep using 32 bit Aug 18, 2011 at 2:33
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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.

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  • Very interesting your comment thank you 1+ Aug 18, 2011 at 2:34

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