Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 13th Nov 2012 22:24 UTC
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Member since:
2010-03-08
Does Windows 64-bit Vista/7/8 have 32-bit code still lingering that would keep them from running on AMD chips? Would we lose instructions like sse or do they have 64-bit versions? Most importantly, would any chips be grandfathered in so while new chips would lose 32-bit instructions, the new company could still produce the current line of CPUs while they make the transition?
I would see two problems with that:
1/AMD64 processors start in x86 compatibility mode as an architectural decision, so removing x86 support would effectively imply creating a new incompatible processor architecture (similarly to what was done in IA-64... and it bombed)
2/Even with fully 64-bit operating systems, most user software is still 32-bit. An x86 compatibility mode would thus be necessary in order to execute it.
Edited 2012-11-14 15:06 UTC