amd64 status

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Thursday 02 June 2005 03:36 pm, Miguel Miranda wrote:
> Hi list, i have heard a lot of good things about opteron servers, im
> going to upgrade several old production servers (thinking on hp dl145
> or sun v20z, sugestions?), is the amd64 port stable enough to use it
> on production?, what about performance, will i see a plus if i buy
> opteron isntead of  xeons?.
> Can you point me to some docs about it?, the archives are very messed
> up on this topic,
> thanks
>
> ---
> Miguel

I would suggest you browse the AMD64 mailing list archives.  From what 
I've heard/read:

1. It's stable.

2. It's easier to find a compatible motherboard if you stay away from 
NForce (nVidia) chipsets.

3. Certain ports and drivers (ath, for example) have to be rewritten 
before they'll work in the AMD64 port.

4. If you need features/programs that don't work in the AMD64 port, you 
can always install the i386 port since the hardware is backwards 
compatible.  You should see a performance boost over 32 bit hardware 
even though the software is not 64 bit.

Take all of this with a 5 pound bag of salt; and be sure to do your own 
research.

Best of luck,

Andrew Gould