Vista x86 vs 64-bit questions

[Keith R]

I plan to install both VMWare and VPC2007 on a Q6600 quad core machine that
uses 4GB (probably will grow to 8GB) RAM. This is my first experience with
both Vista and virtual machines; my goal is to set up multiple XP and
earlier images to replace multiple existing test boxes. I don't plan to set
up any 64-bit guests on the virtual machines.

I'd like to make sure that the operating system passes all available
resources through to the virtual machines; can Vista Ultimate x86 (32-bit)
fully support the quad cores and large memory space, or do I need to move up
to 64 bit? I'll do whichever is better, although if there is no difference
based on my setup I'll stick with 32-bit for compatibility with drivers,
etc.

Thanks for your input (and any links to relevant data or discussions),
Keith

 

[Tom Lake]

I'd like to make sure that the operating system passes all available
resources through to the virtual machines; can Vista Ultimate x86 (32-bit)
fully support the quad cores and large memory space, or do I need to move
up to 64 bit? I'll do whichever is better, although if there is no
difference based on my setup I'll stick with 32-bit for compatibility with
drivers, etc.

The 32-bit version can only use up to 3.x GB RAM, not a full 4 GB and
certainly not 8 GB.
You'll need the 64-bit version for that.

Tom Lake

 

[Keith R]

Thank you Tom- I'll go with x64.
Keith

The 32-bit version can only use up to 3.x GB RAM, not a full 4 GB and
certainly not 8 GB.
You'll need the 64-bit version for that.

Tom Lake

 

[Daniel F Valot]

Keith,

When Virtual PC 2007 (64 bit version) is run on a 64 bit system (Windows XP
X64 edition) it cannot emulate a 64 bit system,
So the guest is only a 32 bit system.
On a Pentium D (EM64T) Vmware is no better, but I have read that it can
emulate 64 bit system on AMD or recent Dual core.

Daniel

 

[Daniel F Valot]

Keith,

I'd like to make sure that the operating system passes all available
resources through to the virtual machines; can Vista Ultimate x86 (32-bit)
fully support the quad cores and large memory space, or do I need to move
up to 64 bit? I'll do whichever is better, although if there is no
difference

Virtual PC / Vmware do not pass hardware configuration to the client PC,
they emulate a minimum PC with no USB,
very basic Display adapter (S3 for Virtual PC 2007 , Vmware Vesa) etc...
But they are very reliable and easy to use. I use them for cross system
development and test.

Daniel

 

[Andrew McLaren]

The 32-bit version can only use up to 3.x GB RAM, not a full 4 GB and
certainly not 8 GB.
You'll need the 64-bit version for that.

Tom's correct. In addition, note that not all motherboards can use more than
4GB of RAM, even if you have > 4GB physically inserted. It depends on the
chipset. If you have a recent motherboard ou should be okay. But users have
posted here in the past, wondering why they only saw <~4GB RAM even when
they had 64-bit Windows installed and 4+GB RAM.

More details in this KB article
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/929605

I have used Virtual Server and Virtual PC extensively for development and
testing, and they are great solutions. As Daniel Falot correctly noted, you
can only have 32-bit guests, even if you're running the 64 bit version of
Virtual PC/Server. 64-bit guests are expected to be a feature of the
forthcoming Server 2008 Hypervisor (basically a form of Virtual Server,
built-in to the core of Windows). You can also get 64-bit guests, today, in
VMWare - if you really need 64 bit guests.

Good luck with it.