Question Is this old AMD Cpu 64bits compatible?

[MetalDragonX]

Hello people I'm reviving this old CPU with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and a Gigabyte M61PME-S2 motherboard trying to install Windows 10 64bits through an SSD without success everytime I try the 64bits version of Windows after configuring Bios to boot from USB I just receive a Black Screen with a tilt like CMD one and can't past further than that.
After trying 32bits version the installation went through. So I'm thinking the CPU is not 64 compatible. Any insight?
Thanks in advance

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is your answer, and it applies exactly the same to Windows 10 as it did to Windows 8.1. Although it supports 64 bit operations it was an early version and lacks support for some 64 bit instructions that are REQUIRED in order to run Windows 8.1 or 10 64 bit versions.

Windows 8.1 64 Bit Not Working With Some Old AMD Processors

Microsoft recently made a statement to Neowin confirming that some really old AMD processors would experience issues running Windows 8.1 64 bit. Microsoft claim that some early AMD processors (such as…

www.eteknix.com

 

[BFG-9000]

That's not it because all A64 for socket AM2 and DDR2 were revision F or later so included CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF. So it doesn't matter which X2 5000+ you have in there (and there were many kinds), all of them have those instructions.

Even the earlier A64 without those instructions were 64-bit, just limited to 8TB of address space, and ran 64-bit XP, Vista, 7 and Win8 just fine. It's just Microsoft decided to change the requirements for 64-bit Win8.1

 

[MetalDragonX]

This is your answer, and it applies exactly the same to Windows 10 as it did to Windows 8.1. Although it supports 64 bit operations it was an early version and lacks support for some 64 bit instructions that are REQUIRED in order to run Windows 8.1 or 10 64 bit versions.

Windows 8.1 64 Bit Not Working With Some Old AMD Processors

Microsoft recently made a statement to Neowin confirming that some really old AMD processors would experience issues running Windows 8.1 64 bit. Microsoft claim that some early AMD processors (such as…

www.eteknix.com

Lmao man! Thanks you save from a further headache, that was the problem that the CPU was deceiving me with the name 😂
Well gonna try some Win 8.0 and Wind 8 to see if it works. I could make it run with Win 10 LTSC 1809 tho lol
I'm sure im not a "non-upgrade hardfan" as the article said 😂 but some people just want to squeeze all the juice of the orange 😂
Thanks for your replys! Appreciated 👍😁

 

[hotaru.hino]

Is there a reason why you must throw Windows on it? This sounds like a good candidate for lightweight Linux distro.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's not it because all A64 for socket AM2 and DDR2 were revision F or later so included CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF. So it doesn't matter which X2 5000+ you have in there (and there were many kinds), all of them have those instructions.

Even the earlier A64 without those instructions were 64-bit, just limited to 8TB of address space, and ran 64-bit XP, Vista, 7 and Win8 just fine. It's just Microsoft decided to change the requirements for 64-bit Win8.1

His SPECIFIC CPU model is exactly what is referenced in ALL of the articles on that subject of lacking the correct instructions. SO, I think you are wrong, because I really doubt ALL of those reviews, articles and sites are wrong. Besides which, in this case, I think Microsoft probably knew what they were talking about. If you have SPECIFIC evidence to the contrary, I'm sure we'd all like to see it, besides which, if in fact you are right it would have been nice for you to point out or include an actual solution to the OP's problem that proves his CPU will in fact run a modern 64 bit OS. I've tried it myself several times, and could never get it to work. Only 32 bit versions of the more recent Windows platforms would run on the Athlon X2 64.

Microsoft recently made a statement to Neowin confirming that some really old AMD processors would experience issues running Windows 8.1 64 bit. Microsoft claim that some early AMD processors (such as the Athlon 64, Athlon x2 64, Opteron 185) cannot run Windows 8.1 64 bit due to the fact they are missing the CMPXCHG16b instruction set. Windows 8 64 bit did not pose the same problem as that OS had a special software implementation that meant these older CPUs still worked. Microsoft has since removed that support in Windows 8.1 64 bit.

 

[BFG-9000]

I have both an A64 X2 system that cannot run 64-bit Windows 8.1/10 and one that can. The one that can't is Socket 939 and thus DDR1 so cannot accept more than 4GB of memory anyway--so 32-bit is really OK for it. The one that can is AM2 and DDR2 just like OP's but is a revision G chip.

The Wikipedia article embedded in your link specifically states that Rev. F was the cutoff for CMPXCHG16b being included in the A64 X2, and all 5000+ are this or later--however that is not the whole story, as the BIOS must also expose this capability for it to be usable. Rather infamously Intel refused to update the BIOS in some Intel branded motherboards to allow Core 2 to run 64-bit Windows 8.1 around this time as they would rather you buy another computer, and we all know Core 2 has all of the instructions needed. In any case there is some conflicting information about whether Rev. F actually always has PrefetchW or not, but the consensus is Rev. G or later (that is, 65nm Brisbane or later) Athlon 64 X2 do in fact definitely work fine. And is the kind of fine detail you can only get from trial-and-error experience rather than Google.

So the presumed solution would be for OP to upgrade to such a 65nm A64 X2 AM2 chip such as the 3.1GHz 6000+ (not the 3.0GHz Windsor-based one), or better, an AM2+ Phenom II (which is backwards compatible into AM2) if they really wanted to use all of their RAM. After of course checking to see if they have the latest BIOS from Gigabyte.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hello people I'm reviving this old CPU with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and a Gigabyte M61PME-S2 motherboard trying to install Windows 10 64bits through an SSD without success everytime I try the 64bits version of Windows after configuring Bios to boot from USB I just receive a Black Screen with a tilt like CMD one and can't past further than that.
After trying 32bits version the installation went through. So I'm thinking the CPU is not 64 compatible. Any insight?
Thanks in advance

The reason that it's called the "Athlon 64" is because it is a 64-bit CPU. That doesn't mean that Windows 10 will support it though. Hell, Windows 11 doesn't support the FX-8350 and it's also a 64-bit CPU.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The reason that it's called the "Athlon 64" is because it is a 64-bit CPU. That doesn't mean that Windows 10 will support it though. Hell, Windows 11 doesn't support the FX-8350 and it's also a 64-bit CPU.

For totally different reasons.

 

[Avro Arrow]

For totally different reasons.

What do you mean?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Exactly what I said. The CPUs that are not supported in Windows 11 have nothing to do, at all, with whether or not they are "64 bit" processors other than the fact that there are no processors new enough to be supported by Windows 11 that AREN'T 64 bit, but that's only because it's been MANY years since any non-64 bit processors for consumer platforms have even been made. It has EVERYTHING to do with Microsoft not wanting to have to support hardware that is beyond a certain age.

Whereas the problems with the early 64 bit processors not being supported on modern Windows platforms is a problem of lack of support for some instruction sets. That is not by design like Windows 11 not supporting some processors. It's simply a matter of somebody inventing the cart before they had a horse, then finding out after they had a horse that the cart was designed for goats.

 

[Misgar]

Cpu-world.com shows this processor as 64-bit so it should work with a 64-bit OS. It's a "knobbled" Phenom II X4 and I've run a several old AMD CPUs of this vintage with Windows 10 Pro. Can you try Windows 7 64-bit to see if it's a chipset driver problem? There shouldn't be any difference between drivers for Windows 10 32 and 64-bit, but stranger things have happened.

 

[hotaru.hino]

So I looked around as to why the CMPXCHG16b instruction was required on Windows 8.1 and later. It's solely to increase the user-mode virtual memory space to 128TB from 8TB (see https://web.archive.org/web/20170326140218/https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040817-00/).

If you want to feel cynical since Home and even Pro versions likely won't ever have 8TB of memory for a very long time, sure you could say this was to force people to upgrade hardware. But on the flip side, you could also say Microsoft just didn't want to deal with memory limits until the end of time.

 

[BFG-9000]

The reason it was required is probably the same reason for excluding older processors from Windows 11 support. For decades it was called the Wintel Monopoly because Microsoft would make OSes that needed ever more resources/system requirements, so both the CPU manufacturers benefitted because this bloat made older chips run like crap, plus Microsoft did too because it resulted in more sales of prebuilt systems with Windows preinstalled. Everybody wins except the customer!

Sometimes they reached a bit too far (as with Windows Vista which initially turned out to be a dog even with certified hardware) and sometimes they waited too long (Windows 11 because Windows 10 was going to be the last Windows ever). Windows 10 actually has the same stated system requirements as Windows 7, with of course the seldom-mentioned artificial gotchas that Windows 8 and up also required XD/NX-bit, PAE and SSE2, with 64-bit Windows 8.1 adding CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF on top of this.

See, Microsoft looked jealously at the Android/Chrome model of the OS being a continuously updated service with devices falling EOL out of support for the latest versions all the time and wanted to copy this with Windows 10 to drive sales. Unfortunately it turns out this only works for Google because they don't actually sell their OS to either phone makers or consumers--it's a data-mining advertising platform, while Microsoft wants to sell theirs. So they've just gone back to what they know works for them, and Windows 12 is rumored to be in beta now with release in 2024.

Is this really that different from nVidia helping/subsidizing game developers by providing free tools containing compilers that favor the pathways that only happen to exist in their latest gen GPU hardware, making both competitor GPUs as well as their own older cards run worse intentionally? It drives sales and works for them too.

In real life you can help others at the same time as you help yourself, because it's not Zero-sum. A bigger slice does not mean others get less pizza when you can just make the whole pie bigger. Everybody wins except the consumer paying for that pie, and well, who cares about them, there's money to be made. And sure it's wasteful, but without free enterprise you wouldn't have personal computers or smartphones at all.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Cpu-world.com shows this processor as 64-bit so it should work with a 64-bit OS. It's a "knobbled" Phenom II X4 and I've run a several old AMD CPUs of this vintage with Windows 10 Pro. Can you try Windows 7 64-bit to see if it's a chipset driver problem? There shouldn't be any difference between drivers for Windows 10 32 and 64-bit, but stranger things have happened.

Clearly, you are a "focused" individual. And you do not get it. There are 64 bit instructions that SOME "64bit processors" do not "UNDERSTAND". And if YOU don't understand that, then you should maybe stop posting on topics that are related. Period.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Clearly, you are a "focused" individual. And you do not get it. There are 64 bit instructions that SOME "64bit processors" do not "UNDERSTAND". And if YOU don't understand that, then you should maybe stop posting on topics that are related. Period. I mean, unless you have some definitive evidence to the contrary.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Exactly what I said. The CPUs that are not supported in Windows 11 have nothing to do, at all, with whether or not they are "64 bit" processors other than the fact that there are no processors new enough to be supported by Windows 11 that AREN'T 64 bit, but that's only because it's been MANY years since any non-64 bit processors for consumer platforms have even been made. It has EVERYTHING to do with Microsoft not wanting to have to support hardware that is beyond a certain age.

Here's what I said:
"The reason that it's called the "Athlon 64" is because it is a 64-bit CPU. That doesn't mean that Windows 10 will support it though. Hell, Windows 11 doesn't support the FX-8350 and it's also a 64-bit CPU."
So you're saying exactly what I said using different words. That's not totally different reasons. No wonder I was confused.

Whereas the problems with the early 64 bit processors not being supported on modern Windows platforms is a problem of lack of support for some instruction sets. That is not by design like Windows 11 not supporting some processors. It's simply a matter of somebody inventing the cart before they had a horse, then finding out after they had a horse that the cart was designed for goats.

Yes I know that. I said "That doesn't mean that Windows 10 will support it though." which means that was referring to Windows 10. I only used Windows 11 as an example because the OP clearly didn't understand that Windows drops support for CPUs based on age, regardless of whether or not they are compatible with the AMD64 instruction set.

I was just saying it the way I said it to make it easier for the OP to understand, not because I'm unaware of it. If you had said that "Windows 11 is for totally different reasons." then I would have just said, "Yep, very true."

 

[Darkbreeze]

Actually, we're not saying the same thing, but it's ok. As long as the reasons are clear to the OP, that is all that matters. The semantics aren't important here beyond that understanding.