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Who boots in 64bit kernal?

M

mjsmke

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 2, 2010
512
0
UK
Just wondering how many of you actually boot in 64bit? If so what is the advantage? or dissadvantage?

I have a few time but see no difference. All my apps work the same and the same amount of memory is being used either way.
 
64-bit mode is mainly for computers than have a lot of RAM (16 GB+) and servers.

The only disadvantage is that some apps may not work in 64-bit kernel.
 
MP 3.2 cuad (Mid 2010) boots 64-bit by default, Mac mini 2.66 (Late 2009) and MBP 2.4 15in (Late 2008) were set to boot 64-bit. On the mini and MBP 64-bit seems to be a little quicker, especially with Aperture 3 and PS CS5.

Currently the mini is running Windows XP Pro only with no OS X installation so it's back to 32-Bit.
 
When I boot in 64-bit it seems that some apps are a little snappier, e.g. I 've noticed the increase speed of encoding in Handbrake.
 
celticpride678 said:
64-bit mode is mainly for computers than have a lot of RAM (16 GB+) and servers.

The only disadvantage is that some apps may not work in 64-bit kernel.
Click to expand...

No, the 64-bit kernel can support 32-bit applications fine - a nice thing about the Intel architecture.

What the 64-bit kernel can't support is 32-bit extensions, and the reverse is also true.

64-bit can matter when there's big numbers involved in calculations. It's faster to use a native 64-bit integer instead of multiple 32-bit integers or whatever method is used to represent "big numbers".
 
I run OS X Server, so that's the default. I can't tell the difference for most apps. The only difference is a lot of hardware didn't work in the beginning since there weren't any 64-bit drivers for them. Now it seems that has improved quite a bit.
 
I boot in 64-bit but can't really say I notice a difference. I only have 4GB of RAM but I run a few apps like lightroom which might run better in a 64-bit kernel. Really though I don't run many legacy apps so I don't have any backwards compatibility issues with 64-bit, so why not?

Ruahrc
 
Transporteur said:
I use the 32bit kernel since my SIL3132 based eSATA card doesn't work with 64bit.
Click to expand...

You sure about that? I have a Si 3132 based eSATA card right now and it works great in 64-bit mode after getting the drivers.

The drivers I have might be proprietary, but you can try it?

It's the drivers for the Sonnet Tech E2P.
 
mjsmke said:
Just wondering how many of you actually boot in 64bit? If so what is the advantage? or dissadvantage?

I have a few time but see no difference. All my apps work the same and the same amount of memory is being used either way.
Click to expand...

My 27" iMac i5 boots in 64-Bit mode. There is a small performance increase because your apps don't have to go through the 64-bit-to-32-bit conversion/compatibility layer - or whatever you want to call it.
 
alphaod said:
You sure about that? I have a Si 3132 based eSATA card right now and it works great in 64-bit mode after getting the drivers.

The drivers I have might be proprietary, but you can try it?

It's the drivers for the Sonnet Tech E2P.
Click to expand...

I too have the Sonnet drivers, but if I recall my machine didn't recognise the drives attached to the card after booting in 64bit mode.

Going to check it again when I'm back at home.
 
I've run both. But if I want access to a USB drive (with NTFS) or access to my Boot Camp partition when Windows isn't running then I have to run 32 bit kernel. (For FUSE).
 
Thanks for the replies. Didnt expect this many so fast. Think i'll try booting in 64 bit and see how it goes for a while.
 
Honumaui said:
second box down or the first download you come to this is for a basic 2 port card ?
their site might have other cards depending on what you have :) but its been working fine for me
Click to expand...

Those don't work with my card. I had a hard time testing several drivers when I got it, the Sonnet driver is the only one that works, not in 64bit kernel though.
Right now I'm on the 64bit kernel and I remembered correct, the eSATA card shows up in the system prefs but the drives aren't mounted.

Back to 32bit Kernel. :D
Doesn't make any difference at all for my applications in terms of performance anyways, so that's no biggie.
 
Transporteur said:
Those don't work with my card. I had a hard time testing several drivers when I got it, the Sonnet driver is the only one that works, not in 64bit kernel though.
Right now I'm on the 64bit kernel and I remembered correct, the eSATA card shows up in the system prefs but the drives aren't mounted.

Back to 32bit Kernel. :D
Doesn't make any difference at all for my applications in terms of performance anyways, so that's no biggie.
Click to expand...

bummer :)
 
on of my automate plugins for PS does not run under 64 ? so I boot in 64 but right click on PS then just say boot in 32 bit mode when I need to run that photokit setup ?
quick work around
 
On my Mac Pro 8 core with 16GB RAM it makes a whopping difference in responsiveness. I hardly ever get beachballs since 64bit.
 
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