So /g/, serious question I have a crap laptop with Core 2 Duo

>>58472785
386 is definitely better in your case; just go with it. There will be literally no benefits to x86_64 unless you're using non-open-source software from retards who only provide a 64-bit binary (and I don't recall having ever seen this outside of Windows).

Also, 64-bit actually wastes a small amount of RAM over 32-bit, so there's actually a reason *not* to use it.

>>58472785
>>58472854
>retards
64-bit is slightly faster as it pages 64 bits not 32 bits at once, using a 32-bit OS will need to do it twice instead of once

>>58472785
If you processor supports 64 bit there is not reason not to use 64bit software. It has performance boosts. Only if you depend on some older software and you must stay on 32bit.

>>58472894
The fuck are you smoking nigger? 32-bit applications won't even *need* to load 64 bits at once most of the time.

>>58472894
>>58472913
>missing the point
On OP's system, memory will be as much of a performance bottleneck as the old CPU, and 64-bit programs and the 64-bit operating system uses more memory.

>>58472894
not in this case
microOPfusion do not work on core 2 when it operates in amd64 mode

>>58472785
Have you considered Win9x, OP?

>also dead
>uses even less RAM
>is now retro instead of just embarrassing

>>58472785
32 bit Gentoo. I know it's a meme, but you'll see actual performance improvements to compiling natively when your hardware is that slow. Invest a night or two to compiling xorg and gcc, and bam, your system will be running way better than it would have with a binary distro.

>>58472785
Why don't you fuck off and try it for yourself? We had this shitty thread yesterday.

>>58474758
If we're going retro, may I suggest OS/2?

>>58472785
>Is there a real life benefit of going with amd64 Linux instead of i386?
Higher performance.

If you want you can install gentoo and compile everything with the x32 ABI to conserve memory while keeping the high performance of 64bit.

>>58475883
>x32 ABI
it's a meme

>>58476006
It has practical uses it's just not practical to roll it out for any mainstream distro yet. I think at some point "i386" will become so old that all mainstream distros will decide it's no longer worth supporting and then we might start seeing x32 builds being tested. It actually makes a lot of sense for workstations, I could see Red Hat or CentOS experimenting with it.

>>58476102
>It has practical uses
No

>>58473249
The difference is minimal, the performance and security improvements are much more than the ridiculously small bigger footprint
This isn't a embedded computer with a few KB of memory

>>58474689
[citation needed]