[arch-general] A question about Arch Sixty Four

[Allan McRae]

On 25/05/10 17:20, Jan de Groot wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-05-24 at 17:05 +0200, Nicky726 wrote:
>
>> I have experimentally found out, that 64 bit Linux distro uses like 40 -- 80 %
>> more of RAM than 32 bit. Now it seemed to be both aplication and distro
>> dependant, with Arch being on the better side. Though I've got to say again, it
>> was not a benchmark, just my personal experiment.
>>
>> As for me, if I had a machine with plenty RAM (that is from my perspective
>> ~GB), than I would choose 64 bit. If I had like 1 -- 2 GB, than I would
>> definitely go 32 bit.
>>
>> Hope I did understand your question right.
>
> Depending on the software you run, programs can take more memory due to
> larger integers and pointer sizes. If memory usage is a problem, go for
> a 64bit kernel with 32bit userland. Memory allocation above 896MB is
> much more efficient on 64bit kernels because you don't have to use the
> "highmem" method to access that.
>

And here is how to do 64 bit kernel with 32 bit userland without even 
noticing from a user perspective:
http://allanmcrae.com/2010/02/transparent-x86_64-kernel-on-an-i686-userland/

 From an admin perspective, you need to update the kernel yourself (or 
create a repo just for the 64bit kernel and modules).