Re: significance of bits

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jun 02, 1999 at 02:50:31PM +0530, prasad wrote:
> Arun Sharma wrote:
> 
> > But Goankar is right in that the general purpose registers on a 32 bit
> > microprocessor will still be 32 bit (because they're also used for
> > addressing virtual memory). But the data bus doesn't have to
> > be 32 bit.
> 
> Well , the 8088 was a 16 bit CPU. Though the external data bus
> may be smaller , internally , it is a 16 bit CPU. The internal
> data bus width should determine the 'bitness'.
> 

As I said, the internal data bus width could be variable. Pentium III
has the usual 32 bit regs, as well as the SIMD (single instruction
multiple data) instructions, which do 128 bit ops.

	-Arun

- --------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information on Linux in India visit http://www.linux-india.org/
Linux India is NOT a forum for Microsoft/India/Pakistan/US/UK bashing.
Flame baits will not be tolerated.  If you can appreciate satire read
http://www.templetons.com/brad/emily.html

------------------------------