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yay! this means my extra gb of ram wont go to waste with this stupid 3gb limit on x86... and an extra core can go to use properly now.

There is no stupid <sic> 3GB limit on x86. There is an addressable memory limit of 4GB for all 32-bit systems though (including G4's).
 
G4 CPUs could use up to 64 GiB of RAM

There is no stupid <sic> 3GB limit on x86. There is an addressable memory limit of 4GB for all 32-bit systems though (including G4's).

Actually, G4 processors (like most Pentium III and Xeon processors) have 36-bit addressing and can access up to 64 GiB of RAM - even with 32-bit operatiing systems.

Apple never supported 36-bit addressing, and on the Intel side many of the Northbridges have a 32-bit limit.

On the server/workstation Intel chipsets, 64 GiB support is the norm - even with 32-bit CPUs and operating systems. (36-bit only available in 32-bit server Windows systems - XP 32-bit restricts the capability, even though the OS runs in 36-bit mode.)
 
Actually, G4 processors (like most Pentium III and Xeon processors) have 36-bit addressing and can access up to 64 GiB of RAM - even with 32-bit operatiing systems.

Apple never supported 36-bit addressing, and on the Intel side many of the Northbridges have a 32-bit limit.

On the server/workstation Intel chipsets, 64 GiB support is the norm - even with 32-bit CPUs and operating systems. (36-bit only available in 32-bit server Windows systems - XP 32-bit restricts the capability, even though the OS runs in 36-bit mode.)

You are right. I'm normally the one to first point this out. However i was mainly pointing out that this limitation of x86, as he put it, is also a limitation of other 32bit chips.

From what i remember the 36bit mode (Physical Address Extension) doesn't use a linear address space. It uses "pages" of 32bit addressable spaces which means a program can't use more than 4GB addressable space at once.
 
I have just installed Vista Business 64-bit onto my Macbook, replacing Vista Ultimate 32-bit, and it works perfectly using the drivers from the new Mac Pro version of Boot Camp (torrent them!). I had to get the video card drivers off intel's website and it works flawlessly - no driver issues at all. I haven't done any benchmarks, but I can now play Portal without the frame rate dropping to an unplayable level when you, you know, fire a portal, which always happened with 32-bit Ultimate. Apparently source games benefit from 64-bit quite a lot. Also, all 4GB of ram can now be seen. I say it's worth a try.

Here's some proof. View full size and it should be self explanatory.

P.s. If you're thinking of doing this, check the search box in the top right of the screen shot.
 
I have just installed Vista Business 64-bit onto my Macbook, replacing Vista Ultimate 32-bit, and it works perfectly using the drivers from the new Mac Pro version of Boot Camp (torrent them!). I had to get the video card drivers off intel's website and it works flawlessly - no driver issues at all. I haven't done any benchmarks, but I can now play Portal without the frame rate dropping to an unplayable level when you, you know, fire a portal, which always happened with 32-bit Ultimate. Apparently source games benefit from 64-bit quite a lot. Also, all 4GB of ram can now be seen. I say it's worth a try.

Here's some proof. View full size and it should be self explanatory.

P.s. If you're thinking of doing this, check the search box in the top right of the screen shot.
The cake is a lie!

I think you're hitting the same 32-bit BIOS mode that I was seeing in Ubuntu AMD64. How much video RAM is in use?
 
The cake is a lie!

I think you're hitting the same 32-bit BIOS mode that I was seeing in Ubuntu AMD64. How much video RAM is in use?

Not sure how to check how much vram is in use, but dxdiag said that there was 364MB overall. It's an integrated card though, so it doesn't mean much. Is that what you meant?

Every time I mention Portal to my friends they say that. By the way... the cake is NOT a lie!! :eek:
 
Not sure how to check how much vram is in use, but dxdiag said that there was 364MB overall. It's an integrated card though, so it doesn't mean much. Is that what you meant?

Every time I mention Portal to my friends they say that. By the way... the cake is NOT a lie!! :eek:
I suspected that while in BIOS mode on EFI you're limited to 32-bits of addressing space. In Ubuntu I get 3.8 GB of available RAM and the rest is for the video card.

This might be related to the Mac Pro 8800GT (EFI32 vs. EFI64) issue.
 
Try using iSight on Skype or some other IM program. I'm not saying you're lying, I'm running x64 in a Virtual Machine installed with the same Mac Pro x64 drivers. However, I can't seem to get iSight working, it crashes whenever it tries to load.
 
The iSight works fine with Windows Live Messenger, which is quite a surprise as apple don't sell external iSights anymore, so they can't have developed these drivers specifically for Mac Pros. I reckon Apple will introduce driver CD burning within Boot Camp again and give official 64-bit support to all, possibly with 10.5.2. Why else would they make a 64-bit iSight driver?
 
For 3D apps. 3ds max, zBrush, Mudbox and many other 3d apps are windows only.

This is the one announcement concerning the Mac Pro I've been waiting for. Now i can run 3ds max and it'll support more than 3gb of ram!

Sorry 'TheThirdMan'. From the '3ds max' site (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5659453), under system requirements:

"Note: Apple® computers based on Intel processors and running Microsoft operating systems are not currently supported."

Time to check the people of 'Ashlar-Vellum'?
 
Is Windows Vista in high demand for Mac Owners? Not trying to be a fan boy, just curious about what has come out for Vista that OS X isn't going to be able to run

MS Access?:confused:

how about any of the tens of thousands of applications available for the MS OS and not Apple's?

Not all of us use our Macs exclusively for web surfing, music and checking email.
 
how about any of the tens of thousands of applications available for the MS OS and not Apple's?

Not all of us use our Macs exclusively for web surfing, music and checking email.

There are few things I cannot do under OS X that I can do under Windows, but I freely admit those few things are critical to me, so Boot Camp and Parallels were instrumental and critical for me to switch to the Mac. :cool:
 
Bootcamp X64

actually i just installed Vista Business x64 on my 17" iMac (late 2006) and used the drivers from my Mac Pro and it works perfectly, sound, graphics, isight, bluetooth all working.

edit: i can post a screenshot if u want proof
 
here's my experience of using the 64bit drivers on an imac-24 purchased December 2007 with bluetooth k/b and mouse.

Ran bootcamp assistant and created partitions and started installtion of Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition.
When it came to selecting regional settings and timezones etc..the apple bluetooth k/b and mouse would not function (obviously).

Plugged in Dell USB keyboard and MS intellimouse from PC and the worked almost instantaneously, so proceeded with install at this point.

Vista installed without issue.

first time entering vista i wanted to run bootcamp and get the drivers so had to download a sub-set of the vista 64bit drivers from a torrent, this activated bluetooth k/b and mouse so off with the USB k/b mouse.

Could not get vista to recognise my ATI RADEON HD 2600 PRO card even with native drivers from ATI, so proceeded to torrent the bootcamp64 executable and ALL the drivers this time.

Turned off UAC in Vista and ran bootcamp64 with installed bootcamp on Vista and all the relevant drivers..presto, everything works now like a charm...no need to use and mobile modders or stuff like that.

scores on the doors after install were:

Processor 5.3
RAM 4.8
Graphics (AERO) 5.9
Graphics (GAMING) 5.3
H.Disk 5.5

Spec is imac-24" alu 2.4Gig, 320GB HD and 2GB RAM

Hope this might help somebody out who wants to do similar, only one issue I'm aware of and that is when you hold the option key on reboot to select the O/S to boot to the bluetooth mouse does not seem to work, so I use the bluetooth k/b arrow keys and return to select the O/S.

(my reason for doing this was the p!ss poor performance of Vista Ultimate 64-bit under VMWARE fusion 1.1)
 
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