[pchelpers] Re: 64 bit processors and motherboards

I just read some of this material. On the face of it, the AMD64 seems to 
have used a few ideas that first came out in the early RISC chips 
(Reduced Instruction Set Computing). I recently obtained an old BBC 
Acorn machine which has to be one of the few remaining examples. The 
true 64 bit wide data bus instantly doubles data transfer rate and 
allows all the other internal CPU enhancements to become more effcient. 
As to whether it uses that to read both instructions and data in single 
chunks as the RISC did, I'm not sure- it seems likely. It means chips 
with lots of pins- one of 754 and another of  940 pins! The following is 
worth quoting as an advisory to interested buyers:

The Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX will be used mostly as 32-bit processors 
out of the gate. That's because at launch, there will not be a 64-bit 
operating system available for the chip. Linux vendors Red Hat and SuSE 
will have 64-bit versions soon, and by early next year, we should see a 
64-bit version of Windows XP for the Athlon 64. For now, however, our 
testing shows the Athlon 64 FX-51 to be a 32-bit powerhouse with extra 
potential waiting to be harnessed.

Ed West wrote:

>Jackie,
>If you can get a copy of Maximum PC Nov. 03 issue there is an excellent
>article on AMD's 64 chips.
>Also, http://xsls.com?806 at this PC Mag site are some articles.
>
>I used to be one of those guys that jumped into the deep end as soon as the
>water filled the pool (ain't I poetic?) Now I go in toe first & check out
>the water temp. My advice is go slow.
>Ed West
>
>  
>

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