Hi there!

Maybe this is a simple question. I installed Ubuntu 32bit on my new Intel Atom 330 based system. Works great. Then I read somewhere that Intel Atom 330 was 64bit prepared. What does this mean?

What should I run? 64bit or 32bit Ubuntu server?

Will there be any benefits (performance, stability etc etc)?

Thanks alot!

Best regards,

Niclas Lindberg

if you want to know if it is a 64 bit or 32 bit cpu you can check cat /proc/cpuinfo and look for the flag lm (not lahf_lm that is something completely different)

not all atom CPU's are 64 bit, so you would need to check. It looks like the 330 does indeed support 64 bit.

64 bit will really only provide large performance gains for certain tasks such as video encoding or graphics rendering, etc. it will not do much of anything for your standard day to day web browsing, typing a letter, sending an email, etc..

Running 32 bit applications on a 64 bit platform works fine, but may actually give performance penalties rather than gains.
(see the gameing benchmarks on phoronix)

Stability wouldn't change

64 Bit will allow you to access memory larger than 4 GB

if you have the time and inclination go ahead and give the 64 bit distros a shot..

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=998&num=1
http://bingouv.blogspot.com/2008/08/...parison32.html

Hello there again!

Just to be sure: If lm flag exists = 64bit?

Attached the output below!

What basically will be run on the server is: Tomcat + Postgresql.

Super thanks! Again!

Best regards,

Niclas


administrator@raps:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 1595.994
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3191.98
clflush size : 64
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 1595.994
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 2
initial apicid : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3192.06
clflush size : 64
power management:

processor : 2
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 1595.994
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 3
initial apicid : 3
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3192.07
clflush size : 64
power management:

processor : 3
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 1595.994
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3191.99
clflush size : 64
power management:

1 members found this post helpful.

Yep there is the flag.. that CPU is definitely 64 Bit capable.

Postgres Database. That could benefit from a 64 bit OS..

Superthanks!!

n.lindberg

Do us a favor and post back what you think of you 330, once you run it through its paces.

Thanks
Lazlow

Sure
if I can on a low level basis.. What would you like to know?

Have not installed Ubuntu 64bit server yet.

As for now being(running on Ubuntu 32bit) I have to say that I'm very happily surprised! It is hosting a Jetty, Echo3, Postgresql webapp and its doing its job very well. And it looks great! (small box).

I'll get back with more info.

Best regards

Niclas

I guess I am not looking for anything too specific, just general impressions.

Thanks
Lazlow

There are different opinions about the performance boost when installing 64-bits version of the OS, some even say if becomes slower.

My experience is that when I installed Debian Lenny 64bits on my laptop it seemed to be more responsive and it ran cooler. But I am looking forward to any more experiences.

BTW I am not surprised at all with the performance of your system. The Atom is really very good. I am running a few on Debian/KDE and they perform very good. I have a number of dual cores in order as well.

Too bad that is my system the Northbridge (?) is still a 945, using about 10 times the energy of that (very efficient) Atom. Is there still a 945 chip with fan in your 330 box?

jlinkels

I didn't see any 64 bits mode on Atom 330, then I do some. The atom 330 is still with the 945GC that requires far more power than the CPU itself.

Here are some benchmarks (compare 32 bit mode versus 64 bit mode performances).

http://popolon.org/gblog2/atom330-benchmark

64 bit is far better for floats and generally usage (do not know good bench to prove it), but 32 bit mode is better for integer computation and especially for md5sum and Blowfish encryption. I reuse the same test several times in this two cases and obtained about the same results.