http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/win/winmemory.html
e.g. a 32bit Windows computer may have 3GB physical memory, windows
would only recognise 2GB, and then although you can start up several
instances of Stata with 1200m, you can't have one instance of Stata
with more than 1200m. whereas an old Unix with 2GB physical memory
would allow you to set memory 2000m no question asked. You mentioned
that you're using a pretty large data set so you might find the
contiguous memory problem rather annoying.
On 6/29/06, M Hollis <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm hoping to get some advice about Windows x64. I've
> got money to buy a new desktop and I'm looking to get
> a pretty fast computer to reduce my time waiting for
> Stata do-files to finish. I have recently been
> running a computationally intensive analysis that
> takes about 48 hours to complete on my run-of-the-mill
> desktop, but more often I'm running analyses of large
> datasets like 1.5 million observations from the
> Current Population Survey, which can take 45 minutes
> to an hour to run.
>
> I think I have the computer picked out, a Dell
> Precision 490 with two dual-core processors (our
> school only buys Dells). I'll get Stata/MP for
> 4-processors to compliment the system.
>
> My final decision is whether to go with regular
> Windows XP or with Windows XP x64 for a 64-bit system.
> I know many of you are Linux folks, but I'm not
> really up to making that plunge right now. From what
> I understand, Windows x64 offers the potential to be
> faster, but it also creates some software and hardware
> compatibility problems. It seems like some of the
> compatibility problems are being solved over time, but
> it's not clear to me whether the gains of Windows x64
> outweigh the potential headaches. The choice of
> operating systems doesn't impact the cost.
>
> So, I'm wondering if folks have experience with
> Windows x64. If so, does it make a big difference in
> running Stata? Is it worth the trouble negotiating
> all the other compability problems?
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Matissa
>
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