I rather be an applehead than a meathead. Apple-bashers are like racists... they hide behind sarcasm to cover up the fact that they're dumb.
I rather be an applehead than a meathead. Apple-bashers are like racists... they hide behind sarcasm to cover up the fact that they're dumb.
0roo0roo
No Lifer
- Sep 21, 2002
- 64,795
- 84
- 91
Originally posted by: rgreen83
Well of course it did! In appleland, reality is obviously warped, so why couldnt time be warped such that 6 months later is actually seen as happening earlier.
? i don't remember exactly when each was released.. maybe you could tell us. i just remember they were close together, and well...... i've only seen g5's in the store..for quite a while now at that.
.
cm123
Senior member
- Jul 3, 2003
- 489
- 2
- 76
maybe this might help (its from AMD)
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9331_1024,00.html#1527
Q: What is the AMD64 instruction set architecture?
A: The AMD64 ISA is an AMD innovation that extends x86, the industry's most widely supported instruction set, and is designed to enable 64-bit computing while remaining compatible with the vast x86 infrastructure and industry experience. AMD?s 64-bit strategy allows the latest in processor innovation to work smoothly with the existing installed base of 32-bit applications and operating systems, while establishing an installed base of systems that are 64-bit capable. This permits the industry to advance software development on all fronts, with x86 compatibility, while providing the benefits of 64-bit technology.
Q: Why is AMD64 different from other approaches to 64-bit computing?
A: AMD64 is designed to directly follow the evolutionary path of the industry-standard x86 ISA, allowing the technology industry to build a unified 64-bit computing infrastructure fully compatible with the ubiquitous x86 architecture. AMD64 benefits customers by providing investment protection while removing barriers to the next level of computing. With AMD64, customers can preserve their investment in existing x86 solutions while gaining the ability to adopt 64-bit solutions.
Q: Why is 64-bit technology important?
A: The need for 64-bit technology is driven by applications that require high performance and address large amounts of physical and virtual memory. 32-bit computers can manage only 4 gigabytes of addressable memory ? and 32-bit operating systems can address only about 2 GB. AMD?s evolutionary approach to 64-bit technology allows the gradual software transition from 32-bit to 64-bit. AMD64 is designed to provide superior performance for applications requiring multi-processor scalability, larger addressable memory, video/audio/3D processing, or high computational accuracy.
White paper info:
With the AMD64 ISA, relevant instructions and encodings have
evolved to support 64-bits, increasing the resources available to the
hardware and software. Major enhancements over legacy x86 include:
? Sixteen 64-bit general-purpose integer registers that quadruple
the general purpose register space available to applications and
device drivers as compared to x86 systems.
? Sixteen 128-bit XMM registers for enhanced multimedia
performance to double the register space of any current
SSE/SSE2 implementation.
? A full 64-bit virtual address space with 52 bits of physical
memory addressing that can support systems with up to 4
petabytes of physical memory?more than one million times the
amount of RAM supported by 32-bit x86 systems2.
? 64-bit operating systems to provide full, transparent, and
simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit platform application
multitasking.
(2) AMD Athlon 64 processors and AMD Opteron processors will initially support 48-bit virtual memory addresses and 40-bit
physical memory addresses. Modern x86 processors support Physical Addressing Extensions (PAE), which supports
applications addressing beyond 4GB of memory space. However, PAE is rarely used by applications, as it is limited to
addressing 64GB, difficult to program, difficult to optimize performance, and is not portable to other processor
architectures.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/30172C.pdf
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9331_1024,00.html#1527
Q: What is the AMD64 instruction set architecture?
A: The AMD64 ISA is an AMD innovation that extends x86, the industry's most widely supported instruction set, and is designed to enable 64-bit computing while remaining compatible with the vast x86 infrastructure and industry experience. AMD?s 64-bit strategy allows the latest in processor innovation to work smoothly with the existing installed base of 32-bit applications and operating systems, while establishing an installed base of systems that are 64-bit capable. This permits the industry to advance software development on all fronts, with x86 compatibility, while providing the benefits of 64-bit technology.
Q: Why is AMD64 different from other approaches to 64-bit computing?
A: AMD64 is designed to directly follow the evolutionary path of the industry-standard x86 ISA, allowing the technology industry to build a unified 64-bit computing infrastructure fully compatible with the ubiquitous x86 architecture. AMD64 benefits customers by providing investment protection while removing barriers to the next level of computing. With AMD64, customers can preserve their investment in existing x86 solutions while gaining the ability to adopt 64-bit solutions.
Q: Why is 64-bit technology important?
A: The need for 64-bit technology is driven by applications that require high performance and address large amounts of physical and virtual memory. 32-bit computers can manage only 4 gigabytes of addressable memory ? and 32-bit operating systems can address only about 2 GB. AMD?s evolutionary approach to 64-bit technology allows the gradual software transition from 32-bit to 64-bit. AMD64 is designed to provide superior performance for applications requiring multi-processor scalability, larger addressable memory, video/audio/3D processing, or high computational accuracy.
White paper info:
With the AMD64 ISA, relevant instructions and encodings have
evolved to support 64-bits, increasing the resources available to the
hardware and software. Major enhancements over legacy x86 include:
? Sixteen 64-bit general-purpose integer registers that quadruple
the general purpose register space available to applications and
device drivers as compared to x86 systems.
? Sixteen 128-bit XMM registers for enhanced multimedia
performance to double the register space of any current
SSE/SSE2 implementation.
? A full 64-bit virtual address space with 52 bits of physical
memory addressing that can support systems with up to 4
petabytes of physical memory?more than one million times the
amount of RAM supported by 32-bit x86 systems2.
? 64-bit operating systems to provide full, transparent, and
simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit platform application
multitasking.
(2) AMD Athlon 64 processors and AMD Opteron processors will initially support 48-bit virtual memory addresses and 40-bit
physical memory addresses. Modern x86 processors support Physical Addressing Extensions (PAE), which supports
applications addressing beyond 4GB of memory space. However, PAE is rarely used by applications, as it is limited to
addressing 64GB, difficult to program, difficult to optimize performance, and is not portable to other processor
architectures.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/30172C.pdf
This thread reminds me of the old "but the Turbografix 16 has two 8 bit processors" thing ...
What determines the bit'ness of a chip? It's how large of a memory address space a chip has. An Athlon 64 has 64 bits of memory address space making it a 64 bit chip, just like the UltraSparc, Itanium, G5, etc.
It doesn't matter if a chip can run 32 bit code or not ... the most important factor and reason for 64 bit chips to exist is the amount of memory they can address.
What determines the bit'ness of a chip? It's how large of a memory address space a chip has. An Athlon 64 has 64 bits of memory address space making it a 64 bit chip, just like the UltraSparc, Itanium, G5, etc.
It doesn't matter if a chip can run 32 bit code or not ... the most important factor and reason for 64 bit chips to exist is the amount of memory they can address.
I have heard people speak of this before. That AMD64 isn't true 64-bit technology. And I stood there. And I looked. And I thought.... man, you are the stupidest (beep)!
History Lesson.
Intel once made an 16-bit chip dubbed the 8086. This 2 byte chip was the begining of the smallest addressable space, a byte or 8-bits. Then there was a need to add more bits to the equation but at the same time, they had to keep it compatible with old software, so that it would sell better. So they made extensions to the 16-bit architecture, adding another 16-bits to make a 32-bit architecture.
AMD is only doing the same, infact it is better this way - with extensions. It means there is more flexibility then just having to use a whole 64-bits to address on byte of data. It quicker. Unlike the Itanium with has emulates 32-bits, the AMD64 architecture has 32-bits as a native and does not need to emulate meaning that it run the same code a lot quicker than Intel's challenger.
Itanium natives - 64
Athlon64 natives - 8,16,32,64
AMD64 even improved upon the existing x86 architecture's limitations. There can be no truer 64-bit technology than AMD64.
History Lesson.
Intel once made an 16-bit chip dubbed the 8086. This 2 byte chip was the begining of the smallest addressable space, a byte or 8-bits. Then there was a need to add more bits to the equation but at the same time, they had to keep it compatible with old software, so that it would sell better. So they made extensions to the 16-bit architecture, adding another 16-bits to make a 32-bit architecture.
AMD is only doing the same, infact it is better this way - with extensions. It means there is more flexibility then just having to use a whole 64-bits to address on byte of data. It quicker. Unlike the Itanium with has emulates 32-bits, the AMD64 architecture has 32-bits as a native and does not need to emulate meaning that it run the same code a lot quicker than Intel's challenger.
Itanium natives - 64
Athlon64 natives - 8,16,32,64
AMD64 even improved upon the existing x86 architecture's limitations. There can be no truer 64-bit technology than AMD64.
And what makes the cpu 64-bit is the size of the registers, not necessarily the size of the addresses. AMD has half its registers dedicated to x86 and its 64-bit extension. The other half of the registers are 64-bit addressable only.
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