# Find out about my processor



## PatrickBaer (Oct 14, 2010)

Morning!

I would like to find out, whether my processor, mainboard, memory supports 64bit or not. How do I do this without loosening any screws? 

Thanks in advance!

P.


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## SirDice (Oct 14, 2010)

Find the type of processor using dmesg(1). Then look it up on the internet.


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## PatrickBaer (Oct 14, 2010)

Not really...

I tried sysinfo, which told me:


```
[pba@harrison ~]$ sysinfo cpu
Generated by SysInfo v1.0.1 by Daniel Gerzo

CPU information

Machine class:  i386
CPU Model:      Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
No. of Cores:   2
Cores per CPU:  

WARNING: Your CPU supports amd64 architecture, however you are running i386.
WARNING: You may want to switch to amd64 to get a better performance.
```

Why AMD64, when running INTEL? Or does it just refer to "any 64bit of your choice"?

However, why does my bootdisk (i64) refuse to boot if the cpu is supposed to support it? 

(MB is a p5wd2e-premium btw)


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## Beastie (Oct 14, 2010)

A Pentium D supports the x86-64 instruction set so you can install FreeBSD-amd64 instead of FreeBSD-i386. FreeBSD-ia64 is for the Itanium only.


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## PatrickBaer (Oct 14, 2010)

That's cool. So off to the hardware store, get 4 Gigs more


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## User23 (Oct 14, 2010)

The Pentium D is a socket 775 CPU, so the amount of RAM you can use is not really restricted by your CPU but by your chipset. Before you buy new RAM check what chipset model you have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets#9xx_Chipsets_and_3.2F4_Series_Chipsets


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## SirDice (Oct 14, 2010)

User23 said:
			
		

> Before you buy new RAM check what chipset model you have.


Even if a certain chipset allows for more memory this doesn't mean the mainboard will. Implementation differences might mean that the mainboard accepts less memory then the maximum the chipset allows. In other words, check the manual for your mainboard to see how much memory it's capable of handling.

Unless you have an A-brand PC this will require opening up the box to find out what the brand and model of the mainboard is.


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## jem (Oct 14, 2010)

PatrickBaer said:
			
		

> Why AMD64, when running INTEL?



AMD were the first company to develop 64-bit extensions for x86 processors, so software written for that architecture is often labelled amd64.


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## SirDice (Oct 14, 2010)

jem said:
			
		

> AMD were the first company to develop 64-bit extensions for x86 processors, so software written for that architecture is often labelled amd64.



Exactly. The Intel version was officially named EM64T but by that time FreeBSD-amd64 already existed. Intel now calls EM64T Intel 64 which, in my opinion, is too easily confused with IA-64 (an entirely different beast).


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