Sun Microsystems, Inc.
•Provide digital content creation capabilities such as computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM), and computer-aided engineering (CAE), digital music production and video editing,
and real-time media streaming solutions
•Require maximum performance for realistic and cinematic consumer experiences, including computer
games, digital video, and real-time collaboration
x64 processors are designed to maintain full compatibility with x86 while providing the architectural enhance-
ments that provide world-class 64-bit performance. With the x64 ISA, relevant instructions and encodings have
evolved to support 64-bits, increasing the resources available to hardware and software. Major enhancements
over legacy x86 include:
•Sixteen 64-bit general-purpose integer registers that quadruple the general purpose register space available
to applications and device drivers as compared to x86 systems
•Sixteen 128-bit XMM registers for enhanced multimedia performance to double the register space of any
current SSE/SSE2 implementation
•Full 64-bit virtual address space with 40 bits of physical memory addressing that can support systems with
up to 4 petabytes of physical memory—65535 times the amount of RAM supported by 32-bit x86 systems
•64 -bit operating systems to provide full, transparent, and simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit platform application
multitasking
x64 processors include HyperTransport Technology and are designed for flexibility and scalability. HyperTrans-
port Technology provides links-based multiprocessing, simplifying the design of multiprocessor workstations and
servers. Compatibility with x86 makes the x64 computing platform the first 64-bit platform designed to be compati-
ble with mainstream PC applications while offering world-class performance, making it suitable for solutions rang-
ing from consumer client PCs to high-performance clusters. The combination of flexibility and scalability recon-
ciles the broad range of capability and performance requirements IT professionals face today.
AMD Direct Connect Architecture
AMD Direct Connect Architecture helps eliminate the bottlenecks inherent in a front-side bus by directly
connecting the processors, the memory controller, and the I/O to the CPU to enable overall system
performance and efficiency. Directly connected CPUs provide more linear, symmetrical multiprocessing. A
memory controller directly connected to a CPU optimizes memory performance, while an I/O directly connected
to a CPU provides more balanced throughput and performance. Dual-core processors extend the benefits of
the AMD Direct Connect Architecture by connecting two CPU cores to each other on one die to reduce
latencies between those cores.

HyperTransportTM Technology

HyperTransportTM Technology is a high-speed, high-performance, point- to-point link for directly connecting
integrated circuits. HyperTransport Technology also directly connects the I/O to the processors at a rate of up
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