Overview

the XP Mode virtual machine in Windows 7 requires the processor to have a virtualization feature to run XP Mode. Also, you must follow the directions in the sticky, and turning on the virtualization in the cpu is apparently not documented in the sticky. maybe it's somewhere on the internet.

tom's hardware page says 2GB ram is required for XP mode to run. unfortunately, the page is wrong about having to dig through intel documentation to find out about VT-x. intel has web pages in its business section under processors (by proc class) which document whether a particular proc has VT-x or not. very straightforward. with AMD it's even simpler.

list updated 11/11/2010

intel procs with have VT-x

EXTREME: i7-980x, i7-975, i7-965,

DESKTOP: i7-970, i7-960, i7-950, i7-940, i7-930, i7-920, i7-880, i7-875K, i7-870S, i7-870, i7-860S, i7-860,

DESKTOP: i5-760, i5-750S, i5-750, i5-680, i5-670, i5-661, i5-660, i5-655K, i5-650,

DESKTOP: i3-560, i3-550, i3-540, i3-530,

CORE 2 EXTREME: X6800, QX9775, QX9770, QX9650, QX6850, QX6800, QX6700,

DESKTOP CORE 2 QUAD: Q9650, Q9550S, Q9550, Q9505S, Q9505, Q9500, Q9450, Q9400S, Q9400, Q9300, Q8400S, Q8400, Q6700, Q6600, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q, Q,

DESKTOP CORE 2 DUO: E8600, E8500, E8400, E8300, E8200, E7600, E6850, E6750, E6700, E6600, E6550, E6540, E6420, E6400, E6320, E6300,

DESKTOP: Pentium 4 HT 672, Pentium 4 HT 662,

DESKTOP: Celeron E3500, Celeron E3400, Celeron E3300, Celeron E3200, Celeron 1.83GHz 1M cache 667MHz FSB, Celeron 1.66GHz 1M cache 667MHz FSB,

ATOM: D525, D510, D425, D410,

it appears like all the currently shipping processors have virtualization except for some lower-end models. so don't buy cheap.

amd processors which have AMD-V

all opteron proc from rev F and forward.

all desktop procs except Sempron and Athlon before rev F.

basically, any currently shipping proc except sempron has this.

so don't buy cheap.