AMD makes things a little easier to identify virtualization hardware CPUs.

Now that we have both Windows 7 RC and the XP Mode beta, we’re all ready to rock out to Windows XP all over again, right? Well, only if you have the requisite hardware.

If you have an AMD processor, you’ll need something called AMD-V for the hardware virtualization that XP Mode calls for. If you have a fairly recent AMD CPU, you should be ok.

"All CPUs AMD is currently shipping, except Sempron, include AMD-V and therefore support XP mode," an AMD spokeswoman said to CNet.

AMD then laid out which of its CPUs support AMD-V:

“With the exceptions of Sempron-branded processors and Turion K8 Rev E processors, all notebook processors shipped by AMD include AMD-V and therefore support Windows 7 XP mode."

"With the exceptions of Sempron-branded processors and pre-Rev F Athlon branded processors, all of the desktop processors shipped by AMD include AMD-V and therefore support Windows 7 in XP mode."

"Also, all AMD Opteron processors shipped by AMD from Rev F forward include AMD-V."

In a previous article, we looked at all the Intel processors that supported virtualization. The picture wasn’t as clear as AMD’s, however, with some Core 2 Duo and Quad chips with and without Intel-VT. See the Intel CPU list here.