I am looking for test results, articles, reviews, etc. which compare 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Linux, preferrably SUSE 10.0. My apps are graphics and math intensive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am particularly interested to know how 32 bit Linux on a 64 bit machine compares to 64 bit linux on same machine.

Thanks,
CB

I haven't done any real benchmarking, but here are my observations. I initially installed 64bit Debian on my AMD64 3200. After finally getting frustrated with not being able to use w32codecs and a few other propietary software, I installed 32bit Debian on the machine. I have not noticed any decrease in performance. Full screen video still plays like a champ, and I can compile my kernel in approximately the same amount of time. Don't know about heavy number crunching.

My experience and observations were just the opposite. I installed the 32-bit version, then scratched it and installed the 64-bit. I was amazed at how much faster everything ran. An obvious example was the screensavers. I had to get into the setup and slow a bunch of them down.

Hope someone provides some non-observational benchmarks ... lol

I've been a linux user for a while now and when I got my 64bit system I couldn't find a 64bit distro that turned me on. I gave FreeBSD a try and I dunno whether it was because it was BSD or because it was a 64bit OS but Holy Half-the-time Batman! Compiling stuff from Ports was hugely quicker than on my 3GHz P4 in linux. I've got a dual-core which would have helped as well but yeah, I was suitably impressed and it made my spending spree worthwhile

this article does benchmarking for both AMD and fake intel using
both 32bit gentoo and 64bit gentoo.
http://www.linuxhardware.org/article.../02/24/1747228
like most benchmarks the results are mixed
which is why peoples subjective evaluations are also mixed
64bit seems to be faster where math is concerned
but using certain compiler options sometimes math can be increased by astronomical rates like up to 1000% increase.
he uses -march=k8 -O2 -pipe for the 64bit os and
-march=athlon-xp -msse2 -O3 -pipe for the 32bit os which kind of destroys the validity of his tests i think.I bet with more agressive optimizations the math on the 64bit os would go way beyond what 32bit can do.

the results for the processor intensive tests seem to be equal or 32bit is faster.

results for athlon64 FX-55
POVRAY
64bit os is 26% faster

compile firefox
basically equal

oggenc
64bit os is 33% faster

the workstation graphics benchmark SPECViewperf
http://www.spec.org/gpc/opc.static/vp8info.html
for this one the 32bit os is faster or equal in 7 of the 8 tests often
check it out there -- maya on the 32bit os is like 60% faster !
the one test where the 64bit os winns is just barely.

for UT2004 and doom3 the results are almost equal.