First we must understand a little background on what x64 is. X64 is the 64 bit extension technology that AMD invented (AMD64) to seamlessly migrate the 32 bit x86 (as in 286, 386, 486 compatible microprocessors) world into a 64 bit era. Intel in partnership with HP had refused to extend the ancient x86 platform and had already committed to its all new pure 64 bit IA-64 Itanium architecture. While Itanium was fundamentally superior, its x86 emulation provided inferior performance for existing applications and the adoption rate was very slow. Intel had hoped that the market would leap to the new platform but there was no seamless way of making that migration, and Itanium failed to gain widespread adoption. AMD took the opportunity to extend the existing x86 architecture with 64 bit capability by handling 64 bit CPU registers and adding a lot more registers, and it was immediately greeted warmly by the market. In a reversal of roles, Intel found itself copying AMD64 (permitted by an AMD-Intel cross-licensing agreement) and calling it EM64T. The two x64 technologies are essentially identical except for a few minor differences in the implementation.

Rutkowska used FireWire and AMD64-based systems in her research but says it's likely the attack would also work on an Intel-based machine. "The attack itself is not based on any implementation flaw -- it uses only documented features of AMD-based systems, and I anticipate that similar features are present on Intel systems as well."

Attempting to install the graphics driver on a system containing an NVidia NF3 chipset and an ATI AGP graphics adapter may result in the driver failing to install and the 3D engine not activating.

In Windows Vista 32bit or 64bit versions, the Device Manager will show a (!) mark and the AGP card will operate in PCI mode only. When the properties of the device are shown, the error code will show as code 43.

This issue has been seen with other AGP chipsets such as VIA and SiS but has since been resolved by chipset driver updates from these manufacturers.

AMD?s AGP adapters require correctly functioning AGP support from the operating system in order to run the WDDM driver under Vista. This WDDM driver has no way of working around the absence of AGP support.

So a chipset driver update looks to be required from Nvidia.

Advanced Micro Devices debuted a program Tuesday aimed at convincing other hardware makers to develop PCs and components that will give consumers and business users a better ride on Windows Vista than its rival Intel.

AMD?s Better by Design program will provide a kind of Good Housekeeping seal of approval on systems that meet AMD?s criteria for the kind of performance needed to run the processor-intensive Vista operating system.

As Microsoft prepares to release the consumer and small business versions of Vista at the end of the month, many users have been wary of upgrading, worrying that their computers may not be powerful enough to run the enhanced graphics and other features.

Others are concerned about bugs, incompatibilities, and security vulnerabilities that have already been uncovered.