i386 or x86_64?

[Natura.sic.volu]

Is there can be problems in installing i386 fedora on x86_64 processor?
Never installed x86_64 bit system before. Special linux system.
I have 7850 AMD Athlon 64 processor with 32bit windows.

Sorry for my english, and big thnx any help!

no problems installing a 32bit release on a 64bit processor. you can install either one, 64bit release or 32bit release

[Natura.sic.volu]

thank you very much, Demz!

[mariuszs]

If you have 4GB or less install 32bit. With 64bit you have two times memory less for apps.

a 32bit release can handle 4Gigs ram or more during install the PAE kernel gets installed

[stevea]

Originally Posted by mariuszs

If you have 4GB or less install 32bit. With 64bit you have two times memory less for apps.

Since F11 the default kernel for 32bit is PAE (if the CPU supports it and nearly all do). So the decision has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of memory in your system.

64bit do not use twice the memory. Mem pointers are 64bit, and "natural" data sized are 64 bit for example, but if you declare an array of int32_t's they are still 32bit. Over many libraries the 64bit bloat factor in the memory image is about 1.5X, but the increase can range from almost zero to about 1.75X.

64bit code is remarkable faster (sometimes more than 2X) on some compute intensive apps. If you'll use cinelerra or vid processing or reduce experimental data with R you definitely want 64bit. If you are just using the system for email, web-browser etc there is no significant advantage to 64bit.

[wvn]

stevea points out a very important thing and a common misconception. The only reason i avoid 64bit is simply because of certain 32bit applications and a few 32bit libraries.

[stevea]

I haven't installed F11 on a 64bit system yet, but at least until F10, Fedora installed all the 32bit libraries on a 64bit install. So then all the32bit applications will still run on a 64bit install. If you have some 32bit apps, they should still run on 64bit Fedora.