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Definition: AMD64


AMD's 64-bit CPUs. Announced in 1999, AMD was first to add 64-bit capability to the x86 architecture with the introduction of the Opteron in 2003. Following very quickly, Intel added AMD's 64-bit architecture to its x86 family (see x86-64).

Direct Connect Architecture
The AMD64 design, known as the Direct Connect Architecture (DCA), includes a set of 64-bit instructions as well as 64-bit registers that allows the CPU to address more than 4GB of memory, which is the limit of 32-bit registers. It also added a DDR memory controller directly on the CPU chip for increased performance. See Opteron, Athlon, Sempron, Turion and AMD64 sockets.