AMD Predicts End of 32-bit Processors

DDumitru writes "Infoworld reports that AMD predicts it will stop producing 32-bit processors by the end of 2005. By depending on price cuts for Athlon-64 and Opteron, AMD is predicting that it's sales of 32-bit CPUs will fall off and obsolete 32-bit systems in less than 3 years. This is either a push forward, or a tactic to try to capture the 64/32 bit standard leaving Intel in the rear. Or it could just be hype." I'm not in a hurry to ditch any of my 32-bit machines, so long as I get them replaced by 2038.

Comments

bah

[fjordboy]

you young-ins and your 32 bit processors...I'm using 16 bit and I have no plans on upgrading now. You'll be back...

I hope the editors realize...

[AKAImBatman]

I'm not in a hurry to ditch any of my 32-bit machines, so long as I get them replaced by 2038.

I hope the editors realize that 32bit processors CAN process 64 bit numbers. In Java, for example, the date is handled by a 64bit number that tells the number of milliseconds since Jan 1, 1970. Amazingly enough, that clock won't run out for another few billion years.

Oh, and most Unixes have fixed the time problem. The real issue is getting the programs to switch over to the new APIs.

16-bit? 16-bit?

[burgburgburg]

You're soft. Why, in my day, we sent rockets to the moon with 8-bit processors, and we considered ourselves lucky to have them.

16-bit? Why don't you just go lay down on a feather bed and let servants peel your grapes for you? Harumph.

Re:16-bit? 16-bit?

[Waffle Iron]

Looks like the Apollo guidance computers were 15-bits. From a random Google hit:

Each computer had two types of memory, erasable and fixed. The fixed memory contained the programs, constants and landmark coordinates using 36,864 terms or words, each of 15 bits length. That came to a grand total of 74 kilobytes of memory. The erasable memory, which was used to store variable data used in calculations or as registers for logic operations, had only 2,048 15-bit terms.

I remember reading elsewhere that the 36 Kwords of ROM were hard coded by hand threading the bit patterns with tiny wires and magnetic cores, and then they were sealed in a block of epoxy. Turnaround time to fix bugs took weeks.

Re:You know.....

[randyest]

Why is that? Generally smaller geometries result in lower yields. It's worse when the process is first rolled out, and yield does improve as a process matures (which 90nm has by no means done yet), but in general, a larger geometry process results in higher yields.

If you care, this is because defect densities in the silicon remain relatively constant, and although die sizes may be reduced somewhat with smaller geometries (not as much as you would think, though, due to wiring density not scaling linearly with gate size), the odds of a defect being fatal (i.e., falling into one of the increasingly dense "wrong spots" on the silicon) increase exponentially with gate size decrease.

Re:adaptability

[Anonymous Coward]

I am not sure what you mean :
1) Gcc 3.3 actually compiles to AMD64 (i.e. Athlon 64 and Opteron)

2) Gcc 3.3 generates pretty fast code too, as you can see on spec.org where IBM submitted results obtained with an Opteron, Suse Linux and GCC 3.3 : the baseline is above 1100 whereas Apple said that a Pentium 4 at 3.06GHz only achieves 880 with GCC 3.3. So it seems that the Opteron is a better processor for people who use GCC.

3) I write this text on my Athlon 64 running Mandrake 9.2 RC1 for AMD64. I can tell you that there is litlle left to adapt because it works pretty well. In fact you could hardly tell the system is the AMD64 version...

4) running 32 bit programs works fine : I have to use Java 1.4.2 for Linux x86 since the AMD64 version is not available. To do that, you just run the 32bit Linux program and it works at native speed.

As a conclusion, the Athlon 64 is good but it is still expensive (I paid 450 euros for my processor).

384,000km?

[billstewart]

Kilometers? In my day, when Americans went to the moon, we only had *miles*, and only had 238,000 of them....

Re:Yes, but,

[dmayle]

I don't know why I'm doing your work for you, but you should try educating yourself.
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