- Long mode
In the
x86-64 computer architecture , long mode is the mode where a64-bit application (oroperating system ) can access the 64-bit instructions and registers, while 32-bit and 16-bit programs are executed in a compatibility sub-mode.Overview
An x86-64 processor acts identically as an
IA-32 processor when running inreal mode orprotected mode , which are supported sub-modes when the processor is "not" in long mode.A bit in the
CPUID extended attributes field informs programs in real or protected modes if the processor can go to long mode, which allows a program to detect an x86-64 processor. This is similar to the CPUID attributes bit thatIntel IA-64 processors use for allowing programs to detect they are running under IA-32 emulation.Memory Limitations
While register sizes are increased to 64-bits from the previous
x86 architecture , memory addressing has not. Current implementations of the x86-64 architecture, for cheaper manufacturing prices, typically don't support the full 64 bit physical address space; for exampleAMD Phenom CPUs have a 48 bit physical address space. For future expansion, the architecture supports expanding memory addressing to 56-bits (limited by the page table entry format), which would allow for the processor to access 256bytes , or 64 petabytes.See also
*
x86-64 External links
* [http://developer.amd.com/pages/123200367.aspx A guide to the new features of long mode from AMD]
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