Intel's Growing Family of 64-bit Processors
Introduction
Intel's first 64-bit Pentium 4 processors were introduced in 2004 and were originally marketed for use in servers, as I described in my article "The Pentium 4 adds 64-bit Extensions" http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=366538. However, in 2005 Intel has moved to make 64-bit processing a mainstay of its Pentium 4 family. This article discusses the common features of each of the three 64-bit-enabled Pentium 4 families, their differences, and what 64-bit enabled processors to look for later in 2005 from Intel.