Intel® Moderncode for Parallel Architectures
Support for developing parallel programming applications on Intel® Architecture.

64 bit processors

ilamparithi
Beginner
345 Views
help me please.. i had this doubt long back. how does a 64 bit processor(core 2) work? as i know it is two processors embedded on single core. does that mean that 64bit instructions are splitted into two 32 bits and provided to each processor?
0 Kudos
5 Replies
Michael_K_Intel2
Employee
345 Views

Hi!

If a CPU has two core, it means that the CPU contains two fully functional processors. 64bit instructions are regular instructions that are fed into one of the core of your CPU. More specifically, 64bit instructions can access more and wider registers (64bits). They are not split into two 32bit instructions that are dispatched amongst the cores. Each of yhe cores is capable of executing the 64bit instructions fed into it.

Does that anser your question?

Cheers,

-michael

0 Kudos
TimP
Honored Contributor III
345 Views

The primary difference between 32- and 64-bit modes is the use of 32-bit pointers on the former, and longer ones on the latter. A consequence is the ability to use more RAM in 64-bit mode, where, for example, most 32-bit Windows versions use no more than 3GB.

In 64-bit mode, there is native support for arithmetic on 64-bit integers, while in 32-bit mode, 64-bit integer arithmetic is carried out by combinations of 32-bit operations.

Certain CPUs in the past split 128-bit operands into 2 64-bit chunks, to be processed by separate units on a single core. Those which supported 64-bit mode didn't change this behavior between 32- and 64-bit modes.

0 Kudos
ilamparithi
Beginner
345 Views
Thanks very much tim. i want to learn more about the processors and its working. can you please help me out..
0 Kudos
ilamparithi
Beginner
345 Views
Thanks very much michael. i want to learn more about the processors and its working. can you please help me out..
0 Kudos
robert-reed
Valued Contributor II
345 Views
Quoting ilamparithi
i want to learn more about the processors and its working. can you please help me out..

There are lots of books and Wikipedia articles you can study to learn the basics, and there's a lot you can learn by going to the source, the Intel Architecture manuals, at http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/

0 Kudos
Reply