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AMD demos 64-bit Opteron on 64-bit Windows OS LAS VEGAS

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DQC Bureau
New Update

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gave a demo of its forthcoming 64-bit Opteron

server processor and a prototype 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows on a server

at Comdex.

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Servers using 64-bit processors and operating systems can handle computing

tasks that require more memory than the 2 GB limit of current 32-bit processors.

Microsoft has already released a 64-bit version of Windows designed

specifically for Intel’s 64-bit Itanium server processor, and is likely to

make an AMD version available when the Opteron makes its debut in the first half

of next year.

Both these companies are competing against existing 64-bit RISC chips from

Sun Microsystems, IBM, and others. RISC systems are powerful and

well-established but relatively expensive, and AMD wants to convince users to

adopt its low-cost technologies.

A benefit of AMD’s Opteron technology is that it allows companies to keep

their existing 32-bit applications on the platform, gradually migrating toward

64 bits as they need more performance or develop new applications. The Itanium

processor uses a different instruction set than the x86 instruction set used by

other desktop and server processors from Intel and AMD.

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