Officials from Intel Corp's biggest rival in the chip industry, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), told reporters at a lunch in Taipei yesterday that the company plans this year to switch all of its processors to 64-bit technology -- meaning the processor can grab data in 64-bit packets at a time -- from the current standard 32-bit. The company had previously provided 64-bit processors for servers only.
"This year we're going to bring 64-bit capability to every PC-related device," said Shun Yoshizawa, director of AMD Japan Ltd and head of the company's Asia-Pacific marketing operations.
"We're going to bring 64-bit to every personal computer, desktop, notebook, server and workstation," he said.
The increasing popularity of high-quality graphics in computer games, digital holiday snaps and video is pushing the change, another AMD official said.
"Look at your PC environment now," sales manager Francis Chien (
The move from 64-bit to 32-bit technology doubles the amount of data a chip can process in one clock cycle, which improves video and audio performance. This improves gaming, software for engineers and designers, and even presentation software for office professionals, Chien said.
The alternative to increasing the rate at which processors can grab data is to pack more transistors into the silicon, which is what AMD's competitors are doing. Chien said this was a more expensive way of improving performance.
Observers are skeptical that the average user needs 64-bit processing yet, and industry leader Intel has shied away from providing 64-bit processors for mainstream computers, concentrating instead on a 64-bit processor for servers. Officials from Intel's Taipei office declined to be interviewed yesterday.
One problem early adopters of the new 64-bit processors might encounter is that so far their computer's operating software is only 32-bit compatible, meaning they will not experience the full potential of the upgrade.
The good news is that Microsoft Corp is working on a 64-bit edition of its Windows XP software. A workstation version for purchasers of the 64-bit Itanium server processor is already available.
Mac lovers should have a much easier transition from 32-bit. Apple launched its 64-bit G5 processor in November together with compatible 64-bit Mac OS X software.
But some analysts said the urgency in stepping up from 32-bit to 64-bit is not related to the need for better graphics.
"With virus attacks increasing at a very high rate the need to move away from the current code base has never been more great," said Robert Enderle of technology researchers Enderle Group in a report on the company's Web site, "and Microsoft is aggressively moving with an update for Windows XP that will run on a 64-bit platform and be much more resistant to these problems than the existing 32-bit Windows product is."
The first AMD 64-bit processor based desktop and laptop computers are expected to appear on the market this quarter, the company said in a statement.
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