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32-bit boot or 64-bit??

32-bit booting or64?

  • no, really, 32-bit is fine. makes no difference

    Votes: 32 66.7%

  • hells yeah! we want 64-bit or nothing!!

    Votes: 16 33.3%
  • Total voters
    48
  • Poll closed .
G

grooveattack

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
511
1
does this booting into 32-bit bother you?
just knowing that i can do the whole 64-bit thing means i really want to. even though i will notice nothing new, it makes me feel good that 'hey, my kernel is 64-bit'

how about you?
 
I use 64bit kernel. Only thing I needed to check was whether CoolBook would work with it. (and it does, you just need the SL beta).

Nothing beats 3.06 GHz at 1.05 V when normally it would need 1.225 V :)
 
How do you even get the 64-bit kernal going? I tried doing the "hold 6 and 4 while booting but it didn't seem to work when I went to system profiler to check. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have a problem booting using the 64 bit one. My computer is a MBP (2 years old, Santa Rosa c2d, 2.2 ghz)
 
Arkanok said:
How do you even get the 64-bit kernal going? I tried doing the "hold 6 and 4 while booting but it didn't seem to work when I went to system profiler to check.
Click to expand...

Then you can't boot to 64-bit kernel. You CPU or EFI is 32-bit or don't support 64-bit kernel
 
The easiest way to check if you're in 64-bit mode, is look at the console logs right after a reboot (look at all messages). You should see a couple log entries like "PAE extensions enabled" and "64-bit mode enabled"... that's an alternative way to see instead of looking at Profiler.
 
From what I understand, the only benefit a 64-bit kernel provides is more than 2GB (or maybe 4?) of kernel address space. This really only makes a difference when working with LARGE files/applications/databases. Hence why the Xserves will boot by default into that kernel. The benefits of 64-bit for the vast majority of people running consumer level machines are arguable as to whether it makes a significant difference in the long run.
 
Not the only benefit, but definitely the most important one. Faster system calls are nice and all, just not much help except in odd cases.
 
I've just booted with 64 :)

Btw you might want to check this.

Also quote from here
If it makes you feel better to know that your kernel is operating more efficiently, and that, were you to actually have 96GB of RAM installed, you would not risk starving the kernel of address space, and if you don't have any 32-bit drivers that you absolutely need to use, then by all means, boot into the 64-bit kernel.

For everyone else, my advice is to be glad that K64 will be ready and waiting for you when you eventually do need it -- and please do encourage all the vendors that make kernel extensions that you care about to add K64 support as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

:)
 
64 bit mode is WAY faster. Much more teh snap™

something will not work though. On my MBP, VMWare fusion & my verizon aircard require 32 bit mode. Also, adding the arc=64 to the boot plist files does not work, only holding down the 6 & the 4 does.
 
While loaded in the 64-bit kernel, I've yet to experience any of the bugs people are reporting (in Exposé, Safari, etc.). While loaded with the 32-bit kernel, I've experienced some of the bugs (mostly in Exposé). It could be coincidence, it might not, but I don't have or use anything that needs the 32-bit kernel, as far as I know, so 64-bit is now my default.

Side note: I read somewhere that Flash has hiccups in the 64-bit kernel, but why would it? I haven't noticed anything wrong, yet, so…

PS: Moments after posting, the experienced one of the Exposé bugs. Guess I spoke to soon.
 
Ptyger said:
From what I understand, the only benefit a 64-bit kernel provides is more than 2GB (or maybe 4?) of kernel address space. This really only makes a difference when working with LARGE files/applications/databases. Hence why the Xserves will boot by default into that kernel. The benefits of 64-bit for the vast majority of people running consumer level machines are arguable as to whether it makes a significant difference in the long run.
Click to expand...

That is actually incorrect. The 32bit kernel has the PAE/64bit messages.

The easiest way to check is the following:

1) Your kernel at boot mentions LP64
2) Running the "kextstat" command shows addresses longer than 8 characters
3) In system profiler if it sais 64bit kernel and extensions: Yes
 
Salty Pirate said:
64 bit mode is WAY faster. Much more teh snap™

something will not work though. On my MBP, VMWare fusion & my verizon aircard require 32 bit mode. Also, adding the arc=64 to the boot plist files does not work, only holding down the 6 & the 4 does.
Click to expand...

You need to add "arch=x86_64" to enable 64bit kernel (if supported) through the plist.
 
Running 32 bit at the moment, but curious about 64 bit, only thing stopping me is that i have a 32 bit EFI, any idea how to update that to a 64bit EFI?
 
abecker said:
You need to add "arch=x86_64" to enable 64bit kernel (if supported) through the plist.
Click to expand...

I did that. If I boot and hold down no keys, I do not get the 64 bit kernel & extensions. It says 'No' under system software overview. If I hold down the 6 & the 4, I get a 'Yes' and the system is noticeably faster.
 
how do you default startup in 64bit?

and is there a list of programs that are incompatible with 64bit macos?

thanks,

r.
 
Ptyger said:
From what I understand, the only benefit a 64-bit kernel provides is more than 2GB (or maybe 4?) of kernel address space. [...]
Click to expand...
What????

That's more than 4. It's so large, in fact, that it can be measured in terms of exabytes. No practical limit, in other words.
 
I question the actual utility of that program. I mean many people stick with 32bit or 64bit and so making the change permanent is usually the preferred method, and when the need arises to boot into 32bit (or 64bit) then all you need to do his hold the 3 & 2 keys or the 6 & 4 keys.

Nice utility I'm sure but its trying to solve a problem that doesn't quite exist.
 
Don't really care either way at the moment. Whatever OSX does by default is fine with me. People blow this whole 32 vs 64 bit thing way out of proportion. Makes no difference for most people.
 
mslide said:
Don't really care either way at the moment. Whatever OSX does by default is fine with me. People blow this whole 32 vs 64 bit thing way out of proportion. Makes no difference for most people.
Click to expand...

Agreed and most people fail to understand what it really does. They see that 64 is larger then 32 and think that it must be better.
 
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