Is the Core Duo actually a 64-bit chip in disguise?
Posted by Helper Monkey
As we’ve said in the past, no one here at Macenstein claims to be a true tech-head. We are largely nerds without the smarts. So we cannot confirm or deny this report on our own, and look to you, our dear readers, to post your wisdom.
Macenstein reader Tommy Boy sent us a posting over at HEXUS that claims that the Intel Core Duo chip (Yonah), which is a 32-bit chip as far as we know, has 64-bit capabilities built-in, and can even run a 64-bit OS. Or at least we think that’s what it says. At the very least it implies that the chips can address SOME 64-bit calls, and future versions of the Core Duo will likely be able to handle more.
From HEXUS:
“Sossaman is the codename for an ultra low voltage Yonah to be shipped under the Xeon brand, into the server and workstation space.
And it transpires that Sossaman supports iAMD64, er, sorry, ‘EM64T’, symmetric multi-processing with another Sossaman Xeon, and hardware virtualisation [sic]. Intel’s implementation of the 64-bit extension to x86, SMP and hardware VT are all missing from the official specs of Intel Core Duo consumer processors, despite Yonah and Sossaman being the same thing.
While hardware VT and SMP aren’t really on the consumer radar for notebook users, the ability to move to a 64-bit version of Windows or Linux, with a supporting platform of course, surely appeals. It’s therefore surprising to see Intel seem to hide away that ability in its Intel Core Duo chips, which now power a range of Apple products lest we forget.â€?
What do you guys make of this?
