CentOS - Jan 2009 - difference in x86 64 bit centos between 4.x and 5.x versions

i am new to the x86 64 bit centos versions.

ive always used the 32 bit version on industrial type HP hardware

for those of you that are running x86 64 bit centos, other than specific
hardware issues, are you finding that 5.x centos is better than 4.x centos
for x86 64 bit processing?

does it matter in the amd vrs intel hardware differences what you choose to
use for centos version?

other things to make note of?

if i need to be more specific in the general-ness of the approach, please
let me know.

thanks in advance for feedback.

 - rh

RobertH wrote:
> i am new to the x86 64 bit centos versions.
>
> ive always used the 32 bit version on industrial type HP hardware
>
> for those of you that are running x86 64 bit centos, other than specific
> hardware issues, are you finding that 5.x centos is better than 4.x centos
> for x86 64 bit processing?
>
> does it matter in the amd vrs intel hardware differences what you choose to
> use for centos version?
>
> other things to make note of?
>
> if i need to be more specific in the general-ness of the approach, please
> let me know.
>
> thanks in advance for feedback.
>   

the first generation of Intel Xeon's (based on P4 Prescott) that 
supported x86_64 were only slightly faster in 64bit mode than in 32bit 
mode, while the AMD Opterons were considerably faster.   the newer Intel 
Xeons (based on Core2Duo) are quite a bit better.

the latest Intel CPUs are generally faster at most/many things than 
AMD's CPUs, however, AMDs CPUs may still do better at scientific type 
programming that can't take advantage of the SSE3/etc 'dsp' style 
functions.   Servers are as much a function of memory and IO bandwidth 
as anything, so there's many factors.

On Jan 28, 2009, at 3:41 PM, RobertH wrote:
>
> i am new to the x86 64 bit centos versions.
>
> ive always used the 32 bit version on industrial type HP hardware
>
> for those of you that are running x86 64 bit centos, other than  
> specific
> hardware issues, are you finding that 5.x centos is better than 4.x  
> centos
> for x86 64 bit processing?
>
> does it matter in the amd vrs intel hardware differences what you  
> choose to
> use for centos version?
>
> other things to make note of?
>
> if i need to be more specific in the general-ness of the approach,  
> please
> let me know.
>
> thanks in advance for feedback.
>
> - rh
>
My opinion is to first determine a few issues.

How much RAM will it need?  If over 3GB of physical RAM, consider 64  
bit.
Are there third party applications you need to run on it?  If they are  
64 bit, that answers the question too.  If 32 bit, are they supported  
on 64 bit OS?  Do they have different versions for 32 and 64 bit?

> 
> My opinion is to first determine a few issues.
> 
> How much RAM will it need?  If over 3GB of physical RAM, 
> consider 64 bit.
> Are there third party applications you need to run on it?  If they are
> 64 bit, that answers the question too.  If 32 bit, are they 
> supported on 64 bit OS?  Do they have different versions for 
> 32 and 64 bit?
> 
lots of good info to ponder back from those that responded.

what i a getting at is, why would one use x86 64 bit Centos version 4.7 when
one can get the same in x86 64bit Centos 5.2 or later version?

is there a reason to stay with the older version other than for specific
deprecated hardware issues or something else?

is 64 bit Centos 5 just plain better OR would some of you choose 4.7 over
5.x and why?

 - rh

RobertH wrote:
> is there a reason to stay with the older version other than for specific
> deprecated hardware issues or something else?
No, IMO. If you install a new system then install CentOS 5. Version 5 is 
so old by now that all major applications should be supported there. The 
usual YMMV apply.

-- 

//Morten