# 64-Bit vs 32-Bit for Low-RAM VPS **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [February 25, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821 "2019-02-25T23:08:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/daniel/32/2098_2.png) [@Daniel](https://hostballs.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/1 "2019-02-25T23:08:14Z")
Say you have a KVM VPS where a 32-bit non-PAE kernel can address all the memory (that is, it has less than ~3 GB RAM). Would you use a 64-bit OS, or would you stick to 32-bit? Does 64-bit still have advantages in that case? I know in the past, 32-bit has been recommended for low-RAM servers (due to the smaller pointer size resulting in less RAM usage, at least in theory). I stuck to 32-bit on a server with 512 MB for that reason. However, I’m not sure if that recommendation is still accurate. On the flip side to that, since the host machine is 64-bit, is it beneficial if all guests are also 64-bit? _Poll ([view on site](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/1))_ ---
**Author:** ![deank](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/deank/32/1477_2.png) [@deank](https://hostballs.com/u/deank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/2 "2019-02-25T23:11:23Z")
32bit in this case. ---
**Author:** ![dah85](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/dah85/32/170_2.png) [@dah85](https://hostballs.com/u/dah85)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 6:31am UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/3 "2019-02-26T06:31:06Z")
I’m going to say 64bit purely from the point of view that the major distros seem to be moving away from 32bit and that could possibly affect upgrades down the line. 32bit still works great, unless you specifically need 64bit (and vice versa) Not too sure if there’s a measurable real world performance hit by using 64bit, even though the math suggests there could be. ---
**Author:** ![FHR](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/fhr/32/481_2.png) [@FHR](https://hostballs.com/u/FHR)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 10:54am UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/4 "2019-02-26T10:54:24Z")
Definitely 64 bit. Nobody cares about i386 in this day and age. ---
**Author:** ![Mason](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/mason/32/66_2.png) [@Mason](https://hostballs.com/u/Mason)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/5 "2019-02-26T13:32:00Z")
> [@FHR](#): > > Definitely 64 bit. Nobody cares about i386 in this day and age. +1 I use 64 bit even on my LES VMs (128mb or 256mb ovz’s). Have never had any issues. ---
**Author:** ![5even](https://hostballs.com/letter_avatar/5even/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@5even](https://hostballs.com/u/5even)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/6 "2019-02-26T13:34:43Z")
LES is love, LES is life ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/daniel/32/2098_2.png) [@Daniel](https://hostballs.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/7 "2019-02-26T16:40:01Z")
> [@dah85](#): > > major distros seem to be moving away from 32bit I use Debian which has no plans to drop 32-bit support, so I’m not too concerned about that. ---
**Author:** ![Jarland](https://hostballs.com/letter_avatar/jarland/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Jarland](https://hostballs.com/u/Jarland)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/8 "2019-02-26T16:49:34Z")
I would say 64bit in case you want to upgrade the server later. The memory difference is tiny, it made the most sense when we were working on 64-128mb servers. ---
**Author:** ![deank](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/deank/32/1477_2.png) [@deank](https://hostballs.com/u/deank)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/9 "2019-02-26T17:23:12Z")
32bitlivesmatter. ---
**Author:** ![rstad](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/rstad/32/2409_2.png) [@rstad](https://hostballs.com/u/rstad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/10 "2019-02-26T19:23:25Z")
I’ve used 32bit but not for any particularly well thought out reason, mostly just sort of cargo-culting it because it worked fine for what I was doing the first time I made this choice and I never thought to think about it again since. ---
**Author:** ![Harambe](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/harambe/32/2378_2.png) [@Harambe](https://hostballs.com/u/Harambe)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/11 "2019-02-26T19:29:05Z")
64bit across the board these days. Think I’ve only got 1 or 2 32 bit VPS’s left and it’s only because I’ve been too lazy to reinstall (fairly sure both are still running on Wheezy, lol). ---
**Author:** ![eol](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/eol/32/2482_2.png) [@eol](https://hostballs.com/u/eol)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 10:47am UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/12 "2019-02-27T10:47:30Z")
64 bit or replace hw. ---
**Author:** ![anon40039896](https://hostballs.com/letter_avatar/anon40039896/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@anon40039896](https://hostballs.com/u/anon40039896)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/13 "2019-03-02T22:04:19Z")
I am all 64 bit, if i woke up 32 bit again, i’d probably be demented already. ---
**Author:** ![angstrom](https://hostballs.com/user_avatar/hostballs.com/angstrom/32/1204_2.png) [@angstrom](https://hostballs.com/u/angstrom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://hostballs.com/t/64-bit-vs-32-bit-for-low-ram-vps/1821/14 "2019-03-03T19:43:23Z")
I also use 32-bit for VPSes with 2 GB or less of RAM because 64-bit seems like overkill for this purpose. A number of distributions (e.g., Debian, Slackware, the main BSDs) aren’t going to abandon 32-bit anytime soon – it’s only from a certain perspective that 32-bit is considered dead.