32 or 64 bit OS?

Royals

Member
I looking into setting up a new server to test xenForo and the host is asking if I want a 32 or 64 bit OS, specifically; Centos 5.x x86_64 (64 bit version) or Centos 5.x i386 (32 bit version)

Does it matter? I'm assuming the latest versions of PHP and MySQL will run under either? Anything else that would make xenForo perform better under one vs the other?
 
There's no reason not to be running 64-bit software unless there is a very specific requirement that calls for 32-bit. But this is rare. Most people will have no issues running any 64-bit software.
 
64 is neither better or worse (actually it's worse for php) ... if you are getting 3GB + then you have no choice but going 64bit .. if less (most likely) then 32 bit is better because most php libraries via yum/apt are compiled 32 bit.

I found that some extensions do not even compile under 64 bit distros ... and I have found that APC slams will only occur on 64 bits (None under 32 bits this is my own experience)

@Nasr hahaha APC slam will give your favorite error :D :D GATEWAY ERROR :D
 
I found that some extensions do not even compile under 64 bit distros ... and I have found that APC slams will only occur on 64 bits (None under 32 bits this is my own experience)

@Nasr hahaha APC slam will give your favorite error :D :D GATEWAY ERROR :D

Not true, used a 32 and had APC Slams like crazy, until I tweaked my settings.
 
I'm talking when you have the right settings for APC ... and as I said in MY experience it is true :D it's actually a well documented bug .. google is you friend ;)
I understand that I just meant that it is not impossible, APC can slam on a 32 bit, the way you said it made it sound like 32 bit was an all powerful APC Slam stopper.
 
The "server" I'm looking at is a VPS with 2GB (burst to 4GB) so it sounds like maybe I should just stick with 32bit? I'm guessing from the replies so far there is not a right or wrong answer.
 
64 bit linux has been nothing but trouble all the times I've tried it (compatibility, issues with 64 bit libraries when compiling stuff, etc.), so I stick with 32-bit+PAE on my dedicated server.

Unlike Windows there is no real reason to run 64-bit unless you will get a major performance gain.
 
64Bit Centos 5.5 here & I have had 7 mins total offline in the past 23 months.. So I cant see where the problem is with 64Bit being unreliable.

I also use a server management company to do all tweaking & upkeep since my day job keeps me busy 7/365 nowadays and they are a godsend @ $29.00 a month.

The cost is worth it for peace of mind & 1st rate service..

Regards...
 
If you have anything less than 512M RAM, use 32 bit. I have one 32bit 512RAM VPS, and a 64bit 1024 meg RAM VPS that I use for a database server.

I started out on slicehost with a 256 "slice" and 64bit CentOS. A whole lot of swappin' was going on.

One problem I had when I was running 64bit CentOS, is that there due to some yum bug or something, it installed a number of 32bit packages in addition to the 64bit ones, which caused some problems with other repos I had installed.

If you go 64bit with CentOS, make sure to check and remove any 32bit packages that are also installed, although I think and hope that bug is resolved.
 
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