(2014-05-12, 01:12)jsp1 Wrote: I could be misinformed but it is my understanding that to get the full benefit of 64 bit architecture a minimum of 4GB of ram is necessary. Due to higher throughput demands or some such thing? I don't know this to be a fact but I read it somewhere a while back and have been under that assumption since.
The way I see it is:
RAM >= 2GiB and hardware supports x64? Use 64bit OS.
RAM >= 2GiB and hardware supports x64, but need to run 32bit applications? Use 64bit OS, install 32bit libraries.
Though I have to say I don't think it matters which you run, as long as your happy with what your using.
After 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, 19 January 2038, we won't have to worry about which to use.
That said I still plan on at least buying a 2GB stick for the chromebox.
Edit: I've now tested two more distros and have the following results.
Code:
Fedora-Live-Xfce-x86_64-20-1.iso CPU: 0-2% Kernel: 3.11.10
debian-live-7.5.0-amd64-xfce-desktop.iso 2014-05-05 05:05 CPU: 0-2% Kernel: 3.2.?
OpenELEC is using 3.14.?
Manjaro-openbox is using 3.12.18
The high CPU usage looks to be *buntu related only. Kernels 3.2.? - 3.14.? on other systems have low idle CPU useage.
The debian live xfce was using an old non haswell kernel (probably not backported) and still had better CPU usage than
*buntu with a 3.14.* kernel. Using htop showed no process high CPU usage, it only showed that CPU usage was high.
Updating with obiaf and x-swat ppa had worse performance and would freeze my chromebox after one or two minutes.
If your planning on using your chromebox as more than an HTPC, you should use a distro other than *buntu, or report
the problems and wait for it to be fixed. All distros other than *buntu have required the mem=1536M boot option to be
added to test and install.