Author Topic: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?  (Read 2998 times)

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Offline AdminTopic starter

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can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« on: July 24, 2009, 09:45:25 AM »
Looking at this Dell laptop with this OS:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1 32 Bit  Windows 7 Upgrade Eligible

which has this T6500 64-bit processor:
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=39311&code=t6500


So I don't get it . . . will the OS entirely pretend that the chip is 32-bit, or does Dell have a typo?

(I want 100% 32-bit compatibility, no virtual machines, no dos boxes, no hacks, no dual boots)
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Offline chelmi

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2009, 09:50:32 AM »
No problem. x86-64 uses a superset of the x86 instruction set. Therefore they can run x86 (32bits) application in native.

Chelmi.
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Offline AdminTopic starter

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2009, 09:51:33 AM »
Yea, just found this:
http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/578398-using-64-bit-processor-32-a.html

(I should have searched longer than just 10 minutes before posting)
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Offline BANE

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2009, 01:24:15 PM »
sorry if i'm off on a tangent here.  I'm also looking at getting a new Dell precision laptop and was wondering if getting the Windows 7 64x edition being that I do a lot of complex assemblies in SolidWorks.  After looking at the compatiablity it looks like there are some issues with SW and windows 7 32x but what about 64x?  I know Solidworks didn't come out with a vista friendly software for a good while after vista was released.  I really don't want to wait that long :P

Bane
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Offline AdminTopic starter

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2009, 01:40:42 PM »
Most companies wait for about a year or so before 'upgrading' to the next Windows OS, mostly to wait for all the bugs to be worked out of it first. I didn't even start using XP until 2006. You can no doubt expect quite a lot of software to no longer work in Windows 7, and especially 64-bit.

If you have 4GB of RAM or less, there is zero advantage to having 64-bit. Although I've heard 64-bit processors can multitask better than 32-bit, even with a 32-bit OS (not sure if thats true, just what I've heard).
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Offline Weird Fishes

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2009, 02:10:45 PM »
If you have 4gb of ram there is an advantage... you actually get to use the whole 4 GB. If you have vista 32 bit (like I do, on my macbook pro ;)) and 4gb of ram, vista won't use it all. It also depends on your video ram. I have a 512mb video card too, so that cuts down my ram so that I actually only have 2.8 or so gb available.
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Offline mdmedlin

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2009, 02:50:35 AM »
Ok so I have to ask, why have vista on a mac??  We have a bunch of macs at school and they all have vista on them because there are some programs that wont run on a mac, mainly one of the instructors wrote a virtual java simple computer that wont run on mac.  But then it hardly runs on vista but that's another story.  I have heard taht vista actually runs better on a mac than a pc because macs are all unix based machines.
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Offline awally88

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Re: can 32-bit Vista run on a 64-bit processor?
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2009, 06:39:00 PM »
Quote
I have heard taht vista actually runs better on a mac than a pc because macs are all unix based machines.

The Mac operating System is based on unix core, if you're running Vista on it, you lose the features of the *nix ;)
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