iMac i7: How Would You Know If You're Running 64-bit or 32-bit Mode?

[alvin777]

Hi. How can you check if you're running in 64-bit or 32-bit? Is that indicated somewhere in OS X? Or do you need a program to test if you are running in either mode? Thanks in advance.

 

Gbu.

[ameris_cyning]

Click Apple Icon -- About this Mac -- click on "More Info" click on Software on the list. If it says "64-bit Kernel and Extensions: Yes" then you are in business.

 

Or, open up terminal and type "uname -a" (Without the quotes). If it says "RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64" then you are using OS X in 64 bit mode.

[lucaspeed]

Edit the file /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist and insert arch=x86_64 into the Kernel Flags field.

[Oczo]

Alternately, you can press 3 and 2 at boot to start in 32 bit mode or 6 and 4 at boot to start in 64 bit mode. This is useful if you require testing in both modes.

[Bchemist]

Unless someone is running a pure 64 bit system like a server they should avoid booting in the 64 bit kernel. There is no performance boost and usually there is a performance hit in most situations. That plus 64 bit aps can run on the 32 bit kernel and use higher memory addressing ala Logic Pro and Omnisphere. I've installed and tested over 20 laptops and chipsets from ICH5-10R and Lynnfield and all run hot and are crash prone in the 64 bit kernel. This is why real Macs only boot in 32 bit.

 

To ensure that you boot in 32 bit kernel, type arch=i386 in the boot.plist.

[Harlotext Z]

Booting with the 64 bit kernal on my Mac shows real gains. My geekbench scores are always higher if I’ve boot with the 64 bit kernal. The gains are only modest, but they’re real. After several months of working with it, I can only find two programs that don’t work with the 64 bit kernal. If I want to bother running those, it’s no problem to reboot.

 

Unless someone is running a pure 64 bit system like a server they should avoid booting in the 64 bit kernel. There is no performance boost and usually there is a performance hit in most situations. That plus 64 bit aps can run on the 32 bit kernel and use higher memory addressing ala Logic Pro and Omnisphere. I've installed and tested over 20 laptops and chipsets from ICH5-10R and Lynnfield and all run hot and are crash prone in the 64 bit kernel. This is why real Macs only boot in 32 bit.

 

To ensure that you boot in 32 bit kernel, type arch=i386 in the boot.plist.

[Timdphotos]

there is another way to boot into 64 bit mode even if Your Mac Hardware is not supposed to

if you have an intel processor, then it wil be able to boot in 64 bit but apple does not allow it on certain

Builds (Macbooks etc. old ones not new ones) here is the link hope it helps

 

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/32252...p-mode-selector

 

(its also easier than holding 6 and 4 or 3 and 2 as you cant be sure you got it right)