64-bit vs. 32-bit is like widening the interstate from 4 lanes to 8 lanes. You can fit twice the traffic at once - so yes, efficiency should at least double. However, much depends on the OS capabilities as well. I'm not quite up to par on 64-bit Linux. Don ---------- Original Message ------------- Subject: Re: [SLE] Does upgrading motherboard/CPU actually work? Also, 64bit vs. 32bit.... Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:59:30 -0700 From: Ben Rosenberg To: sle On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:04:58 -0700, Preston Crawford wrote:

I've never done this before with any OS so I'm a little wary in general. But I have a P3 800 that I'm thinking of upgrading as prices are really low and I have a little money right now. Is it a fairly trouble-free process to install a new motherboard/CPU on an existing install or do you have to reinstall the OS? As I've never done this before I have no idea how it will turn out, if SuSE will recognize the new hardware and just deal with it or if it will be looking for old hardware when it boots and be unable to readjust. Thoughts on this?

If your using 9.1 then you should be able to go from what you have now to a new MB/CPU without a reinstall. If you pick something that's the latest and greatest then you may have issues that not even a reinstall will fix. I went from an AMD Duron 800mhz /w an ASUS A7V motherboarrd to a P4 2.4ghz on an ASUS P4PE/GE using SUSE 8.2 with no issues at all... in fact it's still running 8.2 because I'm lazy and I use my 17' Powerbook 99% of the time now.

Also, if I decide to do it, is there any advantage to going 64bit? Obviously that would require a reinstall, but I'm curious, though. Since I have a 64-bit OS it's pretty tempting. Are there any performance gains to be had over 32-bit? For help in answering this I'm a java/web/database developer. So that + reading email, ripping MP3s, burning CDs, browsing, etc. are what I mainly use this computer for. Any advice is appreciated.

Yes, you would have a great advantage. The bus through put in the AMD64 is quite a bit faster then ia32 systems. I think you'd see a large difference. But with this choice you'd have to reinstall because you would be using the AMD64 compiled versions of the OS. But this shouldn't be a big deal.. just remember the mantra of BACKUP, BACKUP and more BACKUPS. :) -ben -- "There is no need to teach that stars can fall out of the sky and land on a flat Earth in order to defend religious faith." -- Web Developer Matheteuo Christian Fellowship webdev@matheteuo.org http://matheteuo.org/ Free software is like God's love - you can share it with anyone anywhere anytime!