64Bit CentOS, can it run 32BIT SRCDS & HLDS?

[DF-Beyond-Devil]

I'm planning on getting a new dedi for my west division, we need to run about 8-10 servers so we have 8 GB RAM, and because of that we need 64Bit OS. My question is: Can I run 32bit SRCDS & HLDS when I have a 64 Bit copy of CentOS running? And does this affect the FPS at all?

[css]

You can run 64 bit CentOS and run 32 bit programs.

Also, you can use 32 bit CentOS too. That's because a thing called "PAE (Physical Address Extension)". This PAE makes it possible for programs to reserve memory outside of the 32 bit limitations. The only restriction is that one process can't go over 4 GB, but that never happens with srcds. Obviously the Linux kernel has to support the feature too, but I believe it's supported by the biggest distros.

I would install 64 bit CentOS because it's no worse (or better?) than 32 bit CentOS.

[disco]

32bit with PAE will cause a lot less headaches than 64bit. With 64bit you've got a lot of non-standard and experimental drivers, libraries etc, and quite a few things may not have a 64bit port

[css]

You don't need 64 bit port for programs. Srcds isn't 64 bit, but you can run it on 64 bit system. All 64 bit systems have backwards support for 32 bit programs. That's why there are (in Debian) /lib32 and /lib64.

Code:

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    20 2007-11-30 12:18 lib32 -> /emul/ia32-linux/lib
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     4 2007-11-30 12:18 lib64 -> /lib

In a year there most likely will be 64 bit version of srcds. Then what? Are you going to run 32 bit srcds even then, disco, or are you going to go through the painful process of updating your server farm to 64 bit?

I wouldn't be so short-sighted now.

[disco]

I realise that you can use the ia-32 libs for 32-bit support, but some things just don't play nicely with 64-bit systems (specifically drivers and libraries). Code takes longer to mature and reach the kernel than 32-bit as well, as there isn't nearly as much demand for 64-bit.

As for a 64-bit version of srcds, unless you've got a source on that I'd say that's a massively optimistic prediction. I can't see valve changing their "that's done, move on to the next thing" attitude any time soon. There isn't really a need for a 64-bit srcds at the moment is there, and if one does appear then I think the performance increase will be negligible

[css]

All new CPUs are 64 bit today. All new CPUs are dual/quad core today. What do you think Valve is devving, 32 bit single-core or 64 bit multi-core?

I'm quite optimistic that in the brink of the year 2010 we'll have übercharged 64 bit servers with multi-core support from Valve.