Silly G5 Processor question...

[HomunQlus]

Well, just a silly question about the G5. It says here that the G5 is a 64-bit Processor. I ordered an iMac G5 yesterday.

Does the G5 come with the 64-bit Architecture as standard?

Cheers guys

 

[Viro]

G5s are 64 bit processors. There is no 32 bit G5.

 

[Lycander]

But it will be running in 32-bit mode

 

[Zammy-Sam]

not for long

 

[Viro]

Unless you run Linux, which Linus Trovalds has been doing for more than a year now. If you did, you will have a 64 bit OS. How useful it will be is a matter of debate, of course .

 

[bdavies]

The PowerPC instruction set architecture has always been extensible to 64 bits. The G5 (aka IBM PowerPC 970/970FX) is just the first production PPC to make use of that fact. That being said, 32 bit instructions are still valid and execute on the G5 - so it natively supports both. The G5 shares much of its core design with the 64-bit IBM "Power 4" processor.

 

[HomunQlus]

Thanks guys! Now I'm even more happy to get an iMac G5!! It arrives in the next few days.