However, traditional microcode (used since the 1950s) also inherently shares many of the same properties; the new method differs mainly in that the translation to micro-operations now occurs asynchronously.
Transmeta argued that their approach allows for more power efficient designs since the CPU can forgo the complicated decode step of more traditional x86 implementations. ==Segmentation== Minicomputers during the late 1970s were running up against the 16-bit 64-KB address limit, as memory had become cheaper.
The 8086 was introduced in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit 8080 microprocessor, with memory segmentation as a solution for addressing more memory than can be covered by a plain 16-bit address.
Thus the total address space in real mode is 220 bytes, or 1 MB, quite an impressive figure for 1978.
However, this naming scheme was quite temporary, lasting for a few years during the early 1980s. Although the 8086 was primarily developed for embedded systems and small multi-user or single-user computers, largely as a response to the successful 8080-compatible Zilog Z80, the x86 line soon grew in features and processing power.
However, the architecture soon allowed linear 32-bit addressing (starting with the 80386 in late 1985) but major actors (such as Microsoft) took several years to convert their 16-bit based systems.
During 1985, the 16-bit segment addressing model was effectively factored out by the introduction of 32-bit offset registers, in the 386 design. In real mode, segmentation is achieved by shifting the segment address left by 4 bits and adding an offset in order to receive a final 20-bit address.
For the personal computer market, real quantities started to appear around 1990 with i386 and i486 compatible processors, often named similarly to Intel's original chips.
This mode is exclusively available for the 32-bit version of protected mode; it does not exist in the 16-bit version of protected mode, or in long mode. ===Long mode=== In the mid 1990s, it was obvious that the 32-bit address space of the x86 architecture was limiting its performance in applications requiring large data sets.
(The x86 CPU keeps running while the x87 coprocessor calculates, and the x87 sets a signal to the x86 when it is finished or interrupts the x86 if it needs attention because of an error.) ===MMX=== MMX is a SIMD instruction set designed by Intel and introduced in 1997 for the Pentium MMX microprocessor.
These bits are set to all ones by any MMX instruction, which correspond to the floating-point representation of NaNs or infinities. ===3DNow!=== In 1997, AMD introduced 3DNow!.
Using 64-bit addresses, it is possible to directly address 16 EiB of data, although most 64-bit architectures do not support access to the full 64-bit address space; for example, AMD64 supports only 48 bits from a 64-bit address, split into four paging levels. In 1999, AMD published a (nearly) complete specification for a 64-bit extension of the x86 architecture which they called x86-64 with claimed intentions to produce.
Thus no special modifications are required to be made to operating systems which would otherwise not know about them. === and AVX=== In 1999, Intel introduced the Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) instruction set, following in 2000 with SSE2.
Thus no special modifications are required to be made to operating systems which would otherwise not know about them. === and AVX=== In 1999, Intel introduced the Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) instruction set, following in 2000 with SSE2.
PAE mode does not affect the width of linear or virtual addresses. ===x86-64=== By the 2000s, 32-bit x86 processors' limits in memory addressing were an obstacle to their use in high-performance computing clusters and powerful desktop workstations.
However, Intel felt that it was the right time to make a bold step and use the transition to 64-bit desktop computers for a transition away from the x86 architecture in general, an experiment which ultimately failed. In 2001, Intel attempted to introduce a non-x86 64-bit architecture named IA-64 in its Itanium processor, initially aiming for the [computing] market, hoping that it would eventually replace the 32-bit x86.
That design is currently used in almost all x86 processors, with some exceptions intended for embedded systems. Mass-produced x86-64 chips for the general market were available four years later, in 2003, after the time was spent for working prototypes to be tested and refined; about the same time, the initial name x86-64 was changed to AMD64.
In April 2003, AMD released the first x86 processor with 64-bit general-purpose registers, the Opteron, capable of addressing much more than 4 GB of virtual memory using the new x86-64 extension (also known as AMD64 or x64).
Introduced in 2004 along with the Prescott revision of the Pentium 4 processor, SSE3 added specific memory and thread-handling instructions to boost the performance of Intel's HyperThreading technology.
The market responded positively, adopting the 64-bit AMD processors for both high-performance applications and business or home computers. Seeing the market rejecting the incompatible Itanium processor and Microsoft supporting AMD64, Intel had to respond and introduced its own x86-64 processor, the Prescott Pentium 4, in July 2004.
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