I have just upgraded to
CPU - (i686) Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo E6750 @ 2.6Ghz
Graphics - nVidia GeForce 8600 GT
Motherboard - Gigabyte S series GA-P35-DS3L

I'm interested in music software so I went to '64 Studio' only to be confused at the choices (only 'i386 or AMD64'). I was told that either 'i386' or 'AMD64' should run on 'Intel E6750'.
However, I have attempted to install Debian Etch, only to have it fail at the point of trying to load an AMD64 kernel. Various other distros have also failed to install and most seem to fail when trying to talk to the graphics card, though I've had other errors.
I can run Knoppix 5.11 but it won't attempt beryl when I select that option.

I have googled but can't find any specific information on the nVidia Geforce 8600 GT, or what an E6750 will run with regard to 32bit, 64bit, i386, i686, AMD64

On the Debian site it states they support
Alpha, AMD64, ARM, HP PA-RISC, Intel x86, Intel IA-64,
MIPS (big endian), MIPS (little endian), PowerPC
IBM S/390, SPARC

Which one of these do I classify an E6750 as ?
Does anyone know where I can find this sort of information

John Grinham

I don't think that processor is 64-bit....so you should pick i386

EDIT : Sorry, i jumped the gun a bit there - it seems it is 64-bit...you should choose Intel IA-64

"Itanium is the brand name for 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture (formerly called IA-64)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itanium)

When did the Core 2 Duo become 32 bit? Of course it's 64 bit (AMD64) but, as such, it is still perfectly capable of running a 32 bit OS too. That's more choice for you. The only reason I can think of why Debian fails to install is that you either have an other component that is not compatible or that you used one of the recent Debian installers, which are known to be buggy at times as they are essentially betaware. Considering that you have similar issues with other distros, I tend toward the first option.

Thanks guys,
If my problem is hardware, then I only have 2 possibilites, the nVidia Geforce 8600 GT, or my M-Audio Audiophile 2495 sound card.(not including hard drive and Dvd which are sata)
I used the sound card in my previous Celeron based box with no problems.
So that leaves the nVidia, as I couldn't relocate my previous AGP card.

Has anyone had bad experience with the 8600 GT ?

for those who find this thread using Google:

An important correction concerning what moljac024 wrote:


- Off course your CPU is capable of 64 bit!
- If you want to install Debian (Etch) on a System with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor you can use either the version built for the i386 or for the amd64 architecture. NOT THE IA64 version!!!



I'm using the version built for the amd64 architecture with a E6300 and it works great.