how to check if my system is 64 capable?

[mn9500]

i have a amd athlon 3500+ and 3 gbs of ram, but ive read that you need a 64 bit compatible mainboard and chipset and i wanted to know if there any programs to check if my system is capable of running 64 bit. I know my processor is 64 bit, but not if any other of my hardware is capable. how could i check?

 

[Night Hawk]

First of all the make and model board is the thing needed here in order to look that up and find out if any Vista drivers were made available since those can be used on 7. After 2yrs. since Vista's release Asus came out with the Vista 64bit updates for the older Socket AM2 board in use here.

With the specifications looked up you can also go directly to the chipset manufacturer to see what they have available as well as simply allow the Windows updates to locate the optional hardware and software updates once the 7 installation is on and the update history is scanned.

 

[mn9500]

the motherboard is a msi albacore and the cpu is an amd athlon 3500+, socket 939.

i bought this pc back in 2005. i checked the site and the updates that are available are "AMD CPU Driver", "AMD Away Driver" and AMD System Driver". It doesnt say anything about being 64 bit.

 

[Night Hawk]

Is this on a premade system like an HP? I'm looking one Albacore-GL6E the way HP has that named being the MSI MS-7093.

Apparently eMachines and Gateway used the same or same series boards on their models showing Vista 32/64bit updates for the onboard ATI vpu, onboard sound, and the ethernet card but not for the sata/RAID which only goes as far as 2000/XP.

The best thing now would be going for the System Info for Windows tool free at SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala With that you can click on hardwares/motherboard to see the exact make and model board. At least the onboard video and sound as well as ethernet is covered.

 

[mn9500]

Is this on a premade system like an HP? I'm looking one Albacore-GL6E the way HP has that named being the MSI MS-7093.

Apparently eMachines and Gateway used the same or same series boards on their models showing Vista 32/64bit updates for the onboard ATI vpu, onboard sound, and the ethernet card but not for the sata/RAID which only goes as far as 2000/XP.

The best thing now would be going for the System Info for Windows tool free at SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala With that you can click on hardwares/motherboard to see the exact make and model board. At least the onboard video and sound as well as ethernet is covered.

yea its a premade HP pavilion a1130n, and the tool u linked to says the motherboard is "MSI Albacore, version 1.0".

 

[Tews]

Download Securable from grc.com ... it will tell you if your system is 64bit ready or not. Get it -=> Here

 

[mn9500]

Download Securable from grc.com ... it will tell you if your system is 64bit ready or not. Get it -=> Here

thanks.

this is what i got when i ran it

 

[Tews]

Then yer good to go M8!

 

[mn9500]

Then yer good to go M8!

nice, but what about that NO on the right. The program is saying that it wont be running full speed. Is it that big of a worry?

 

[zigzag3143]

mn

the no is for running a virtual XP machine. has nothing to do with speed

 

[mn9500]

mn

the no is for running a virtual XP machine. has nothing to do with speed

okay, thanks everyone.

 

[Night Hawk]

The Virtual PC 2007 would still work while the new VPC for 7 and the XP Mode require at least an AM2 board for the dual core lineup of cpus there which all apparently see ready support. In fact in order to see a family member able to upgrade out of a 939 board running XP Pro there to 7 and the XP mode which is the Pro edition the case would need to be upgraded or replaced entirely.

The only item not seeing a Vista 64 update at the HP support site was the sata/RAID controller driver there. However the Windows updates may locate that for you as one of the optional updates seen.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Without hardware support for VT, you won't get the full power and potential of a virtual machine, but you can still run one, provided you have enough memory. Virtual PC 2007 and VirtualBox will work. An x64 OS has nothing to do with VT, so as long as your processor supports x64 extensions (it does), you can run Vista x64 and Windows 7 x64 just fine.

 

[Night Hawk]

All AMD cpus since 2003 have seen support for the 64bit kernel. The Socket As also saw support as well.

The cpu as far as the 64bit Windows was never the problem. Socket 939 boards and older tend to lack Vista updates while mn9500 is fortunate enough not to have to worry about onboard video or sound only the sata/RAID driver which will likely be found by the Windows updates as an option.

Even with the newer AM2 board I had some fun initially with that since Vista updates were "LATE"! while 7 will be far better off for most since you can still use the late Vista updates on 7!

 

[DeaconFrost]

That's one of the reasons I've been using Intel chipsets for six years now or so, exclusively. I always know...whatever OS I choose to use, I will have driver support.

 

[Night Hawk]

I wouldn't count on that lasting forever since they will want you to buy a new one on a new board!

 

[DeaconFrost]

I normally do buy new boards. In those six years or so, I've probably used 12 motherboards or so, not counting systems I've built for friends and family. They've always been rock solid, stable, excellent performance and OS support.

 

[Night Hawk]

Don't forget during those 6yrs. which version of Windows was predominant at the time namely XP due to the delays seen with Vista. The 64bit XP is the one that suffered there however since that never saw the support the Vista 64 is favoring now.

7 will be a piece of cake for driver support in comparison for the boards that are now seeing Vista updates as well as the ones for 7 still coming. As long as mn9500 can find or through the MS updates get the sata/RAID controller drivers he should be set to go there however.

 

[DreadStarX]

If you don't have access to programs like this, the easiest way is to just test and see if it'll install. If you're CPU/Mobo aren't 64bit capable, it'll tell you its not because the Installation will error.

Just another tip, most CPUs and Mobos are 64bit capable.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Don't forget during those 6yrs. which version of Windows was predominant at the time namely XP due to the delays seen with Vista.

It may have been predominant for the average joe, but I was using Vista since the day the RTM was released on TechNet, well over 3 years ago. I also went right to Vista x64 as well, and never had any issues finding drivers for my Intel hardware.