"In 2005, vendors competed to provide ever-increasing processor power, with 64-bit chips and dual-core technology. Now AMD and Intel are shaping their multicore plans for 2006 and beyond. In the world of hardware, 2005 proved to be the year vendors pushed processor power to new heights as competition in the multicore processor space came to a head. AMD gained a 64-bit head start on Intel last year when it unveiled 64-bit extensions that allow x86 chips to accommodate more than 4GB of memory." In related news, Intel is going to dump its 'Intel Inside' tagline in favour of something new-- after using it for 15 years.
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Member since:2005-07-06
64-bit processors in general have been around for 15 years, with the MIPS R4000 being the first (according to Wikipedia). IBM didn't release its first 64-bit processors (the RS64) until 1997. Singling out IBM is thus a bit disingenuous.
Of course, the article seems to be talking about the mainstream market, which 64-bit processors were not sold in until the 64-bit x86 chips. Okay, you do have the point that the PPC970 was the first mainstream desktop 64-bit chip, but it beat the Opteron by only like a couple of months 
Member since:
2005-07-09
That the consumers are the ones to benefit from all this going on between Intel and AMD and quite honestly I am looking forward to see what quad cores can do. Of course we willl need better software to take advantage of all that power but I think we will get there. Things are looking good!
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2005-07-06
The article is concerning itself mainly with desktop processors - in particular pointing out that the end of 2005 saw the introduction of multi-core CPUs to the average desktop PC. The article isn't covering the history of 64bit CPUs or "who invented it" first.
However, for those interested, a brief 64bit timeline:
1991 - MIPS R4000
1992 - DEC Alpha EV4 (21064)
1995 - IBM AS/400
1995 - HAL SPARC64
1996 - UltraSPARC (designed independent of the SPARC64)
1996 - HP PA-8000
1997 - IBM POWER
2001 - Intel IA-64 Itanium
2003 - AMD Opteron
2004 - Intel Pentium 4 with EM64T extensions
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Member since:2005-12-04
but they weren't available until 2001...
http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2001/apr-jun/itanium.html
Member since:2005-07-06
Yes, my list was for when various chips came out, not when they were developed. Obviously, a more thorough 64bit history would also cover development phases as well. The list was simply to give a very brief overview of about when various 64bit CPUs appeared so that current 64bit desktop CPUs were seen in the proper context.
Another way to look at that context: the Nintendo 64 game console used a 64bit MIPS R4000 derived CPU in it; the Playstation 2 uses a 64bit MIPS 5900 derived CPU in it. So 64bit CPUs in the hands of the masses has been going on for a while now.
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2005-12-02
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2005-07-06
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2005-12-28
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No one said IBM was the first... It was said IBM was the first to release a 64bit desktop processor. Why the "In 2005, vendors competed to provide ever-increasing processor power, with 64-bit chips and dual-core technology" ?? 2005? Please wake up! We have seen 64bit and dual-core cpus before 2005, even for home computers. Anyway, the article says nothing at all. Those Windows-only guys...
