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31684 Rev. 3.00 September 2004
Builder’s Guide for AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor-
Based Desktops and Workstations
Appendix B AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor FAQs
Appendix B contains frequently asked questions concerning AMD Athlon™ 64 processors and the
validated server program.
Q: What software supports these processors?
A: AMD Athlon 64 processors are based on the industry-standard x86 instruction set and are
thus supported by the thousands of applications based on this instruction set. All 32-bit
Microsoft
®
Windows
®
operating systems, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003,
include support for the AMD Athlon 64 processor, as do the major 32-bit Linux distributions
SuSE, Red Hat, TurboLinux, MandrakeSoft, SCO, among others. Commercial 64-bit
versions of SuSE Linux, United Linux, and MandrakeSoft are available today and several
other 64-bit operating systems are in development, including the 64-bit version of Microsoft
Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows XP. Sixty-four-bit applications for the
AMD Athlon 64 processor include Apache Server, Mental Ray, Zeus, Cluster Strike Server,
SendMail, MY SQL, IBM DB2, and CA Ingres. Sixty-four-bit versions of Microsoft IIS,
Red Hat Stronghold, Oracle 9i, MS SQL Server 2000, MS Terminal server, Synopsys VCS,
and CA Unicenter are under development.
Q: What is the value proposition of the AMD Athlon 64 processor?
A: The AMD Athlon 64 processor is an x86-based processor that can simultaneously run 32-bit
and 64-bit applications, with leading performance for both. This gives businesses a
competitive advantage with world-leading 32-bit performance, while allowing them to easily
take advantage of 64-bit applications when conditions are right for their business to do so.
By choosing open-standard, non-proprietary computer architecture, a business can maintain
its current investment in IT and lower its total cost of ownership—there is no need to retrain
IT professionals in a new proprietary architecture, no forced migration to 64-bit applications,
and no need to overhaul hardware or change existing software.
Q: What operating systems does the AMD Athlon 64 processor support?
A: As a fully backward-compatible x86 microprocessor, the AMD Athlon 64 processor is
designed to support all existing 32-bit server, desktop, and workstation operating systems
from Microsoft (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, etc.), major Linux distributors (Red
Hat, SuSE, TurboLinux, SCO, MandrakeSoft), and Sun Microsystems Solaris. In addition,
several 64-bit operating systems exist in production versions (SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server 8, UnitedLinux V1, MandrakeLinux Corporate Version 2.1 and NetBSD) and several,
including Windows for AMD64, Red Hat Advanced Server 3.0, and TurboLinux, are in
development.
Q: What are the benefits of the AMD Athlon 64 processor?
Appendix B AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor FAQs 45
A: The AMD Athlon 64 processor architecture is designed to provide unparalleled performance
and supports the x86 instruction set, delivering outstanding performance for both 32-bit code
and 64-bit code. As the need for memory-intensive 64-bit applications becomes greater, our