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2013
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8.2.4
Intel
®
64 Architecture
The formerly known Intel
®
Extended Memory 64 Technology is an enhancement to Intel
®
’s IA-32 architecture. Intel
®
64 is only available on
Intel
®
Core™ i7/i5/i3 and Celeron
®
processors and is designed to run with newly written 64-bit code and access more than 4GB of memory.
Processors with Intel
®
64 architecture support 64-bit-capable operating systems from Microsoft, Red Hat and SuSE. Processors running in
legacy mode remain fully compatible with today’s existing 32-bit applications and operating systems
Platforms with Intel
®
64 can be run in three basic ways :
1. Legacy Mode:
32-bit operating system and 32-bit applications. In this mode no software changes are required, however the benefits of
Intel
®
64 are not utilized.
2. Compatibility Mode:
64-bit operating system and 32-bit applications. This mode requires all device drivers to be 64-bit. The operating
system will see the 64-bit extensions but the 32-bit application will not. Existing 32-bit applications do not need to be recompiled and may
or may not benefit from the 64-bit extensions. The application will likely need to be re-certified by the vendor to run on the new 64-bit
extended operating system.
3.
64-bit Mode:
64-bit operating system and 64-bit applications. This usage requires 64-bit device drivers. It also requires applications to be
modified for 64-bit operation and then recompiled and validated.
Intel
®
64 supports:
•
64-bit flat virtual address space
• 64-bit pointers
• 64-bit wide general purpose registers
• 64-bit integer support
• Up to one Terabyte (TB) of platform address space
You can find more information about Intel
®
64 Technology at: http://developer.intel.com/technology/intel64/index.htm