computer components & hardware - Is my mobo & cpu 64bit capable?

Bob Smith wrote:
I want buy windows 7 but before I do I need to know if my system is
capable of 64bit.

Processor
Manufacturer : AMD
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 255 Processor
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core

Computer
Manufacturer : Gigabyte
Model : GA-880GM-UD2H

TIA

The answer for X2 255 is "Yes".

http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskto...il.aspx?id=627

Operating Mode 32 Bit Yes
Operating Mode 64 Bit Yes

In the case of the current AMD architecture (memory interface
on processor), that makes the motherboard largely irrelevant in
this question. There were some Intel boards a while back, which
would "crimp the style" of a 64 bit OS, as the Northbridge only
had 32 bit addresses on it, instead of 36 for PAE and the like,
and also lacked memory remapping. And the resulting ~3GB limit
would then make a 64 bit OS less attractive (i.e. to support large amounts
of memory). On such a motherboard, you could physically install
4x2GB of RAM, but half of it would be ignored in all cases (no
matter what OS). And that was a Northbridge limit. The AMD
Hypertransport bus, as far as I know, has a pretty extensive
addressing range - it has to, in order to support coherent
links on Opteron server systems, where all processors can address
all RAM on the computer.

As far as I know, virtually any motherboard compatible with that
processor, is going to work with a 64 bit OS. As long as there
are drivers, of course. And Windows has quite a few built in
drivers. Windows 7 has I/O space IDE, PCI space IDE, native SATA,
AHCI (msahci) as well as some RAID (iastorv from Intel). So it can
boot from a lot of stuff by default. You have to "rearm" the
driver detection, before changing modes, so if you install in AHCI,
and want to switch to non-AHCI, there is a registry key to set for
that (to tell the OS to expect to have to find a new storage
driver on the next boot).

Paul