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Article #22570Re: 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit?
From: Ted Rossin
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1993 16:16
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1993 16:16
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Believe it or not the number of bits that a processor has is not cut and dry. The 68000 is a great example of this. Internally it can support some 32-bit operations (the registers are 32-bits wide and the ALU can do some 32-bit math). However, the external bus is only 16-bits wide. Therefore, the 68000 was introduced as a 16/32-bit processor. With a 16-bit external bus, the processor has to do two memory cycles for every 32-bit operand. This also slows down code fetches of instructions that are longer that 16-bits. My view Ted Rossin
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From: rossin@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ted Rossin) Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:16:36 GMT Subject: Re: 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit? Message-ID: <7340113@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!rossin Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st References: <1h3na1INNbem@golem.wcc.govt.nz> Lines: 11