 Permalink for comment 542633 RE[3]: What about 64-bit only? by
twitterfire on Thu 15th Nov 2012 12:36 UTC in reply to "RE[2]:
What about 64-bit only?" Member since:  Data is 64 bit,
instructions can use 16, 32 or 64 bits. For example:  mov ah, bh
//16 bit  mov ax, bx //32 bit  mov rax, rbx // 64 bit  Intel
patents cover instruction set so you can't have x64 only cpus
without infringing Intel's patents.  So that's why hardware
patents are as bad as software patents because they hinder
competition.  Reply Parent Score: 2