Does using x86_64 on a low end server impact performance?

Question

I have a server with 128 MB of RAM. Would it be stupid of me to install Debian 6 x86_64 instead of i386? Would there be any difference in how well the server performs?

What CPU does it have? – David Schwartz Oct 15 '12 at 19:40 — David Schwartz, Oct 15 '12 at 19:40

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 15 '12 at 12:57

There is a very minor memory overhead with x86_64 binaries. This is usually negligible on all modern systems, so the standard recommendation is x86_64. In this case, though, I'd really stick with i386. 128MB is nothing and you'll need to squeeze every drop that you can get.

Does using x86_64 on a low end server impact performance?

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