amd64 or i386 for desktop use?

[Wojciech Puchar]

>> of RAM, and I seldom use more than half of that. Mind you, I'm using a
>> simple window manager not a desktop environment with lots of bells &
>> whistles.
>>
>> I suspect binaries on i386 will be somewhat smaller. But amd64 has more
>> registers which might give some speed advantages. I haven't tested it, but

yes it is much faster (somehow like 20%), and code size are rarely big 
part of memory usage. data size may be a problem if program uses huge 
tables with pointers, like squid.

i always use amd64 on amd64-capable hardware, with exception of i386 squid 
binary which doesn't use much CPU but lots of RAM, and a bit less with 
i386