ubuntu 32 bit or 64 bit?

[kokojie]

When I go to download ubuntu, the download says 32 bit (recommended), and then 64 bit. But I think I'll need to get the 64bit machine for a mining rig?

[Bitonetta]

When I go to download ubuntu, the download says 32 bit (recommended), and then 64 bit. But I think I'll need to get the 64bit machine for a mining rig?

I don't know if there's a difference in performance between the two.  Doesn't look to be.  But 64 bit is definitely *NOT* needed.  I'm running dedicated miners on both 32 and 64 bit versions.

[kokojie]

When I go to download ubuntu, the download says 32 bit (recommended), and then 64 bit. But I think I'll need to get the 64bit machine for a mining rig?

I don't know if there's a difference in performance between the two.  Doesn't look to be.  But 64 bit is definitely *NOT* needed.  I'm running dedicated miners on both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Isn't 32bit only see 4GB of ram? I have 4GB ram on the machine, plus 4 x 1GB GPU, that's total of 8GB of ram, wouldn't that cause a problem with 32bit?

[AngelusWebDesign]

No.  The 4-GB limit is only for main RAM, and you can install extensions to the main 32-bit kernel to support more RAM.

Sad to say, 64-bit STILL causes problems. It *still* after 5 years isn't ready for prime time. I can't run the Bitcoin client on my machine, for example.  32-bit is good.

Matthew

[Chucksta]

When I go to download ubuntu, the download says 32 bit (recommended), and then 64 bit. But I think I'll need to get the 64bit machine for a mining rig?

I don't know if there's a difference in performance between the two.  Doesn't look to be.  But 64 bit is definitely *NOT* needed.  I'm running dedicated miners on both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Isn't 32bit only see 4GB of ram? I have 4GB ram on the machine, plus 4 x 1GB GPU, that's total of 8GB of ram, wouldn't that cause a problem with 32bit?

Yes 32bit does only see up to 4gb of ram. The ram on the GPU and the system ram are separate entities, completely different. So no problem.

[CubedRoot]

I think Ubuntu 32bit is using the PAE kernel now.  If they are using a 32 bit PAE kernel, it will indeed see more than 4 gig ram, and also take advantage of 64 bit processors like they should.

[AngelusWebDesign]

As of 10.4 they weren't using the PAE (physical address extensions) kernel -- so my old 10.4 Ubuntu box can only see 4 GB of RAM.
However, that might be different with 11.04 or Linux Mint (almost like Ubuntu) 10 or 11.

PAE allows Linux 32-bit to address more than 4 GB of RAM.

It's something you can upgrade to (install) on your machine for free -- just use "APT-GET". Google to find out the details.