AMD64 with only 3GB RAM work good?

[Rolf Nielsen]

Saurav Bhasin wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I need to install AMD64(64 bit) on my Lenovo Thinkpad Laptop which has
> a RAM memory of only 3GB
> 
> My other laptop specs are:
> 
> Processor: Intel Core 2 I(Duo) processor T9500 - 2.60 Ghz.
> RAM: 3GB RAM.
> Nvidia GM150 Graphics.
> 
> Would amd64 work well with a 3GB RAM ?.
> 
> I need my laptop for Programming, scientific calculations and heavy
> mathematical stuff.
> 

Hi Saurav,

I'm running FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE amd64 on a T7100 (Dual 1.80MHz) with 2GB 
RAM and a GeForce 8400M GT with no issues whatsoever. My bet is that 
your setup will work very well, but beware that there is no nVidia 
driver for amd64 yet, so you'll be stuck with either xorg-drivers-nv, a 
third party open source driver which for newer cards has no xv support 
(the only issue I have is that when watching video with an aspect ratio 
other than 1:1 it won't automatically rescale) and no 3D support for any 
cards, or the nouveau driver, another third party open source driver 
which is still highly experimental, but has some features that 
xorg-drivers-nv lacks (no 3D though).


So, if you need 3D you should either install i386, which will also work 
well with your hardware, or wait for the amd64 proprietary nVidia 
driver. If you're not in too much of a hurry, I'd suggest the latter, 
because word has it the nVidia driver for amd64 is just around the 
corner. And then the 8.0-RELEASE will probably be out as well, and you 
won't have to go through an upgrade.

Cheers,

Rolf Nielsen