[SOLVED] Difference between 32 and 64 Bit OS'es ???

[doggy93]

Would someone please tell me what's the difference between 32Bit and 64Bit OS'es ???

Is 64Bit better for a server? or the other way around????

thanks
- DoGGy.

[ClanWoof]

64Bit lets you use over 4Gb of ram, 32bit caps your system off at 4 or 3.5

[doggy93]

Is that all? :S

[kaine]

doggy93 Wrote:Is that all? :S

Well considering RAM as the item on your server that srcds "consumes" most that's pretty mcuh all yeah. It is quite comfortable being able to step to 8, 16 or more Gb instead of keeping under 4. Don't you ?

Also, here are a couple posts related to your question:
64 Bit CPUs http://forums.srcds.com/viewtopic/2788
and this one (less relevant) http://forums.srcds.com/viewtopic/2732

[Drocona]

Actually Kaine, RAM is the least you need, just 512 MB per core will hold perfectly fine (depending on gametype of course, this example is for CSS).

First comes bandwidth & CPU, RAM comes in last place
If you want to make a decision on what to host on, it doesn't matter since SRCDS is 32 bit anyway.

[Mooga]

doggy93 Wrote:Would someone please tell me what's the difference between 32Bit and 64Bit OS'es ???

Nothing that can easily be explained.

[doggy93]

Ok thanks
But now I know what hardware I'm gonna buy

Thanks again
- DoGGy

[Doggie52]

If you have a 64bit processor the 64bit OS will utilize it's power a lot better.

[Mr. Potato Head]

Hello , let me see if I got this down. A 64bit os with say 32gig of ram the srcds will only use less than 4 gig's making the rest useless so it is better to stick with the 32biy os. Until last month i never knew about linux and all the differant names for them, still don't. I have been using windows since the early 90's and got used to the point, click, done thing, but i have a need for this self inflicted funk ride.

[css]

People have been quite vague about the memory issue. It's easy to say "32 bit OS limits you to 4 GB". It's true, but not very accurate answer. Processors can be 32 bit, but they have extra bits to be used with memory references. It's called PAE (see wikipedia). This allows 32 bit CPU on a 32 bit OS to use more than 4 GB memory.

The biggest limitation is that single process can't use more than 4 GB memory anyway. On a 64 bit system (=64 bit processor + 64 bit OS) processes can use more than 4 GB memory. The memory usage never grows that high on normal use. It's mostly used on large databases for now. In a year we'll probably start to see games which utilize more than 4 GB of memory, which then means it's impossible to play without 64 bit system.

CS:S and other Valve game servers do not need much memory. I'm running popular 24 slot CS:S server and it uses around 400 MB memory.

If the price is the same, then I recommend 64 bit CPU with 64 bit OS. If you get either one for lower price, then I recommend that Money talks. There's no noticeable difference between 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

[Mooga]

Windows 2k3 32-bit should handle over 4gigs of ram. There's some funny thing that they do... I don't remember what they call it.

[css]

Mooga Wrote:Windows 2k3 32-bit should handle over 4gigs of ram. There's some funny thing that they do... I don't remember what they call it.

Did you read my post. It's called PAE - "In computing, Physical Address Extension (PAE) refers to a feature of x86 and x86-64 processors that allows more than 4 gigabytes (GB) of physical memory to be used in 32-bit systems, given appropriate operating system support."

I hate this kind of misinformation. It's the same as saying "32-bit OS doesn't support more than 4 GB memory" or stating "Linux supports more than 4 GB on 32-bit system". Both statements are true, but writing couple more sentences makes it valuable instead of misleading people to wrong conclusions.

I appreciate the effort, but sometimes it's better to STFU.