[Pro] What is a "x64" system?

By Core series, I meant the entire Core Duo, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad ranges.

My experience so far, is that the situation vis a vis 64-bit drivers is far better with Vista than with XP x64. Generally everyone is writing both 32 & 64 bit drivers at the same time. AV is still a big problem though - even MS haven't made a 64-bit OneCare Live version yet :rolleyes:

Again, thanks for all the links and answers. This may be on the links some of you provided; but I'm looking for a quick answer to this one, so I've come directly back to you guys:

I went to the Microsoft site for the Windows Vista minimum requirements. It says that the processor must be 800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) at minimum.

How does 32-bit translate to x86??? Why not x32? If I want to ensure that my computer is Vista-ready, how do I tell if the processor is "x86"? (Or are all 32-bit processors "x86"?)

Aaaaaagh, all these numbers. I use a computer, so I'd like to think I'm not completely computer-illiterate (although the Mac OS is my forte). But when it comes to keeping up with Windows, I seem to run into new questions every day.

X86 was originally the code that referred to Intel's x86 series of CPU's (286, 386, 486) but now refers to the architecture and instruction set that handles 32-bit operations in a standard CPU, x86 CPU's are 32bit, and x64 are you've guessed it: 64bit. These requirements aren't very good IMO, and they never are, if you were building a new system for vista then there's not much chance of you finding an 800Mhz CPU anyway, but the optimal requirements would be a 2.0Ghz CPU with 2gb of RAM and a good mid-range graphics card to be able to use all the eye-candy.


Liam

800Mhz - pah

My 6 year old, retired, gateway system was 950Mhz and itcame installed with WinMe.

Oer the years I modifed the install to be a triple boot between Win98, WinMe and Win2K, but I wouldn't have dreamed of putting XP on it because I know how slow it woud have been.

To say that Vista woould run on it would be really pushing the boundaries I think.