64 bit distributions - Worth bothering yet?

[Sean Crago]

I've passed on the upgrade to x64 distros, despite every box in my
inventory other than my Eee PC 900 supporting them. The trouble with
binary packages etc. seemed to be substantially worse than the minor
benefits at the time to making the switch. Even today, various 32-bit
OSes (Linux & 'doze alike) seem to dominate both at my current and
last job, and only seem to be swapped out for 64-bit OSes when dealing
with obscene amounts of RAM or specialized scientific routines.

Is there something I'm missing, though, that has a dramatic impact on
the desktop-user's experience? Are there substantial speed gains to be
had, either on AMD or Intel Core * architectures? Is there any
practical benefit at all to making the switch other than the
specialized workstations and servers mentioned above?

Thanks in advance,
Sean Crago
Kathmandu