Unlike the 32-bit version, which was limited to 4GB of RAM (or up to 64GB using AWE), the 64-bit architecture could address up to 512GB of physical memory Enhanced Parallelism: It supported up to 64 processors

In conclusion, the search for "MS SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition 64-bit" is a pursuit of a product that never truly existed in the mainstream market. The SQL Server 2000 codebase was born in a 32-bit world, and its 64-bit capabilities were a late, specialized addition for Itanium servers, not the broad developer audience. True cross-architecture support for developers arrived with the release of SQL Server 2005. Understanding this distinction is vital for database historians and IT professionals attempting to navigate legacy software requirements, serving as a reminder of how rapidly hardware architectures evolved in the early 2000s.

The Evolutionary Leap: MS SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition (64-bit) Released in May 2003, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition (64-bit)