What is the Challenge?
In 2007, the 64-bit computing paradigm and subsequent migration will come into the mainstream desktop and mobile computing marketplace, along with the introduction of Microsoft’s Windows* Vista operating system. The rapid expansion to 64-bit technology will enable “everyday” users to become aware of the 64-bit processing power and thus will no longer be isolated to the high-end workstation or data center environments.As the current 32-bit eco-system evolves into 64-bit architecture, and as subsequent consumer demand grows; developers, administrators and users alike will need to understand what 64-bit technology can offer over their current 32-bit computing environment.
Why is it Important?
By the end of 2006, all Intel® x86 architecture microprocessor products will ship with the Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T). This means that laptop and desktop platforms will take advantage of performance increase potential that has, until recently, been reserved for the higher end workstation and server platforms.When the release of Microsoft Windows* Vista operating system occurs, Intel will be ready to fully support it and any Windows* based 64-bit applications that are being readied for release across all Intel personal computer microprocessor product lines. Intel will provide the necessary 64-bit software development infrastructure as well. In addition, Intel® EM64T will continue to support other 64-bit operating systems such as Apple* Macintosh Tiger, and the various versions of 64-bit Linux*.In other words, 64-bit architecture will become a mainstream, “matter of fact” hardware feature that is designed to meet the growing demands of the 64-bit software eco-system. Users will need to increase their understanding of this “soon-to-be” ubiquitous computing architecture in order to make informed decisions concerning adoption of this technology.
What is the Solution?
Intel enables users to fully take advantage of the 64-bit architecture by providing hardware enhancements, software development tools and helpful online resources. This “top to bottom” offering enables users a full compliment of capabilities that can help speed up the adoption of the 64-bit compute paradigm.Below is a brief summary of these offerings.Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T)The Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology, or Intel® EM64T, is a hardware extension to IA-32 Intel® architecture that allows the processor to run 64-bit programs natively as well as preserve backward compatibility to legacy 32-bit operating systems and applications.The most notable difference or enhancement with Intel® EM64T over the 32-bit architecture observed will be the increase in available address space. A computer running under the IA-32 Intel® architecture can only address 4GB1 of address space, whereas the Intel® EM64T enabled architecture can address up to 1 terabyte (TB) of address space. In addition to the i ncrease in address space addressability, data can now be handled in larger chunks (64 bits as opposed to 32 bits) via widened general purpose registers. Both of these improvements, for certain applications, can increase performance markedly.Increase in address space and data chunk size is not all that Intel® EM64T “brings to the table” with respect to its capability and increased performance potential. As noted above, Intel® EM64T is an extension of the IA-32 Intel® architecture that includes other additions to the Intel® x86 architecture.
These “extensions” include:
Increase in the number of general purpose registers from 8 to 16 (all 64 bits in width).
Increase in the available 128 bit SSE3 registers from 8 to 16.
The ability to zero or “sign extend” unused high order bits when inserted into a general purpose register with a single microcode instruction, which conserves valuable cache space.
These additional architectural extensions increase potential performance for 64-bit operating systems and applications. It broadens the category of application types destined for 64-bit that may otherwise would not use the increase in 64-bit address space.To access more information about Intel® EM64T, please visit this link. For more information on porting applications to Intel® EM64T, please visit this link. Finally, an Intel® EM64T FAQ can be found here.Intel® Software Development Tools for Intel® EM64TIntel® offers a wide range of software development and analysis tools to assist designers, developers, administrators and users in the adoption of Intel® EM64T. These compilers, threading profilers, performance analyzers and performance libraries can increase productivity and shorten the “Time to Market” for 64-bit initiatives. A brief tour of these software development tool offerings follows:64-bit Compilers:Intel® offers two different Intel® EM64T compilers that are recognized as some of the best code optimization tools in the industry. Optimizations for the various Intel® EM64T based processor offerings are unmatched. A 64-bit C++* and FORTRAN* compilers are available both for Microsoft Windows* and Linux* operating systems. These compilers are designed to take full advantage of the Intel® EM64T hardware extensions. For more information, please visit this Compilers link.64-bit Profilers and Analyzers:Intel® Thread Profiler/Analyzer and Vtune™ performance analyzer compliments the 64-bit Intel® compiler tool suite.The Intel® Vtune™ program is a performance analyzer that is EM64T compatible and can quickly analyze code performance and graphs the information. Vtune™ is flexible enough to use for both 64-bit Windows* and Linux* environments, as well as C++*, Java*, and FORTRAN* programming languages. In addition, it can automatically detect the processor f or which it is collecting data. For more information on Vtune™, please visit this VTune™ link.For analyzing threaded code under EM64T, Intel’s Thread Profiler and Analyzer, which are separate extensions to Vtune™, can quickly pinpoint problems and performance bottlenecks. These tools can help identify threading issues such as poor concurrency, too much thread interaction, and synchronization bottlenecks. For more information, please visit this Threading link.64-bit Intel Performance Libraries:Intel offers a wide range of EM64T compatible performance libraries. The purpose for this offering is to supply highly optimized, general purpose functions that will speed up Intel® EM64T architecture based software. These libraries remove the burden of tweaking you code for a particular Intel® architecture or processor offering. These function libraries, if implemented, can greatly increase overall application performance and stability. They are specially designed for each of the Intel architecture offerings (Intel® NetBurst™ and Intel® Core™ Duo) and are adaptable across all Intel microprocessor offerings. These functions include libraries for matrix processing, image processing, and signal processing as well as large data set functions for math, engineering, scientific and financial applications. For more information on these performance libraries, please visit this Performance Library
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