On 21164A (EV56), 21164PC (PCA56), and 21264 (EV6), AMASK correctly indicates support for architecture extensions by copying Rbv to Rc and clearing appropriate bits.

Bits are assigned and placed in Appendix D for architecture extensions as ECOs for those extensions are passed. The low 8 bits are reserved for standard architecture extensions so they can be tested with a literal; application-specific extensions are assigned from bit 8 upward.

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Compaq ECQD2KCTE manual 134Alpha Architecture Handbook