Re: XP (x86) or (x64)


"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9td49451cfd3ii00pl50ag2stsoa4015k3@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:02:47 -0600, "Bill in Co."
<not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:56:13 +0100, "M.I.5¾"
<no.one@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7o5294pkro0kbun757ct26s2g1n93u8vf3@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:08:43 -0700 (PDT), Mike <SulfateIon@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Hi

I'd like to know what Windows XP (x86) and Windows XP (x64) are?
I use Windows XP, but I don't know which one I use.
How do I know?



x86 is 32-bit Windows, and x64 is 64-bit Windows.

The answer, for almost everyone who has to ask, is that you using
32-bit (x86).


For the curious: x86 is a reference to the x86 series of processors
which
started with the intel 8086 processor (which was a 16 bit processor
and
wouldn't be able to run a 32 bit operating system).


And interestingly was never used in a PC. The first PC used an 8088
instead.

Pretty similar, though. :-)
It's been awhile, though, and I can't remember the difference between the
8088 and 8086 anymore.


The major difference is that the 8088 was 8-bit and the 8086 16-bit.


That's not quite true. The 8088 was as much a 16 bit processor as the
8086 - at least internally. The difference lay in the width of the external
data bus. The 8088 used an 8 bit data bus whereas the 8086 used a 16 bit
bus.

Even then the difference wasn't quite that straightforward, because the 8086
could't import or export 16 bit data in one go on its 16 bit bus. In fact
it read the 2 8 bit halves separately but it was able to read both halves
significantly quicker than the 8088 could read its 8 bit bus twice. When
running a program that required no branches, the 8086 read each half of the
data bus alternately. It was thus possible to run programs where the 16 bit
instructions were missaligned in memory and the 8 bit instuctions were read
on the high byte of the bus. This actually slowed the processor down as it
had to swap the data around internally. The architecture was almost closer
to an interleaved memory model than a true 16 bit model.

Some PC architectures today closely emulate this model for improved memory
access speeds, however, it is not the processor that does this but one of
the support chips.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 16/32 processor operating mode
    ... Okay, x86 it is. ... hardware perspective, as I already mentioned, most memory accesses are ... called a "cache line") in a single operation. ... much of the data bus is active when accessing stuff on the bus. ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: XP (x86) or (x64)
    ... I'd like to know what Windows XP (x86) and Windows XP are? ... the 8088 only had an 8 bit memory bus as compared the 16 bit bus on ... The IBM PC was an every expense spared design as IBM considered ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: XP (x86) or (x64)
    ... I'd like to know what Windows XP (x86) and Windows XP are? ... the 8088 only had an 8 bit memory bus as compared the 16 bit bus on ... The IBM PC was an every expense spared design as IBM considered ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: XP (x86) or (x64)
    ... I'd like to know what Windows XP (x86) and Windows XP are? ... the 8088 only had an 8 bit memory bus as compared the 16 bit bus on ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Max memory in XP Pro 32bits
    ... Hi People...How is the max memory who can manage Windows XP X86? ... Rael ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)