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I know there are a plethora of people asking this question because I've read a number of them and am still confused. I have an i3-2100 with 16gb of memory, and an i5-560m with 4gb in a different computer. If I want full 64 bit processor support, and full memory support, should I be using the AMD64 or the Intel x86? I've been using the AMD64 because I saw 64 and assumed that's the one I want for my 64 bit processor. However, reading the descriptions, it sounds like I may have wanted to use the other one. I figured if I used the wrong one it just wouldn't install.

Which one is the correct version for my uses?

jfa
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  • @user68186 That's a helpful link, thank you. I didn't find that one when I was combing through the search results. – jfa Apr 23 '14 at 22:33

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You should always use the 64-bit version if your CPU supports it.

64-bit (x64) has many advantages over 32-bit (x86). Also, 64-bit CPU's have backwards compatibility for 32-bit.

Read more about 64-bit on Ubuntu's wiki for example.

One problem may be that you can't run all 32-bit programs on your 64-bit Ubuntu by default. This can be easily fixed by installing the 32-bit libraries (which is explained on the wiki page I refered to).

Louis Matthijssen
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  • That makes a lot of sense. It is very confusing that one is called Intel and one is called AMD, and also that they're saying that most people should use the first even though most processors are 64bit these days. – jfa Apr 23 '14 at 22:32
  • Yeah, but it's called i386 because Intel was the first to release a 32-bit CPU and AMD64 because AMD was the first to release a 64-bit CPU with backwards compatability for 32-bit. And on Ubuntu's download page the 64-bit edition is selected by default now and it says you should usually download the 64-bit edition. – Louis Matthijssen Apr 23 '14 at 22:41
  • This is the page I got to searching for 14.04 LTS. – jfa Apr 23 '14 at 23:04