GreggBz wrote:
As I undersand it, the AMD-64 is basically an Athlon with 64 bit extensions pasted on. Much like a 386 was a 286 with 32 bit extensions pasted on.
I was a bit disapointed when I discoved it's nature.. I was rather hoping that AMD would design a 64 bit processor from the ground up for the masses. Unfortunately, three things prevented them from doing that.
Backwards Compatability
Backwards Compatability
and
Backwards Compatability
Looks like we will be in a windows PC world for a long time to come... I bet I can still run star control and where in the world is carmen sandiego on my new AMD-64 also.. argh.
The "Long Mode" (64bit mode) has a new architecture. THe instruction set has been streamlined and the number of general purpose registers has been doubled (and thier size has been doubled too). I suggest you
READ THIS to find out more.
The AMD64 is basicly a brand new CPU that is able to run x86-32 bit code with no speed penalty. The Itanic is also a brand new chip that is able to run x86-32 code, but incurs a massive speed penalty.
Imagine if the PPC had been designed by taking a 68k and then creating a "Coldfire type" mode and then extending that mode to have 32 General purpose regs etc.
