The first x86-64 processor came out in 2003. Technology sure does move fast.
Edit: checked my old Newegg orders. I bought my first x86-64 processor, an AMD Athlon 64 3200+, in Jan 2005. I seem to remember games were starting to pick up 64-bit support around then (I think Eve Online in particular, which I played a lot back then), so it made sense to switch.
And when 64-bit support first came to Windows, Microsoft artificially limited the amount of RAM you could use unless you shelled out for the much more expensive editions. On Vista you were arbitrarily limited to 8 gigs with the basic edition, 16 with premium, and even the business editions had a limit of 128 gigs, a tiny fraction of the addressable space under a 64 bit architecture.
Even now there’s a limit, though it’s insanely high (over a terabyte) and you’re unlikely to ever see it unless you’re running a server on Windows instead of Windows Server (still limited, but in the dozens of terabytes) or Linux (which has a “limit” in the petabytes).
Eh, not that big of a deal. The exact same order where I got the 3200+ also had a stick of DDR 400 at all of 256MB. I don’t think dual-channel memory was even a thing yet, or I’m sure I would have gone that route. That 8GB limit was a long time off.
The first x86-64 processor came out in 2003. Technology sure does move fast.
Edit: checked my old Newegg orders. I bought my first x86-64 processor, an AMD Athlon 64 3200+, in Jan 2005. I seem to remember games were starting to pick up 64-bit support around then (I think Eve Online in particular, which I played a lot back then), so it made sense to switch.
I remember being so excited for 64bit Far Cry. Had no idea what it meant. But I was excited!
You what ?
The Pentium came out in 1994.
And when 64-bit support first came to Windows, Microsoft artificially limited the amount of RAM you could use unless you shelled out for the much more expensive editions. On Vista you were arbitrarily limited to 8 gigs with the basic edition, 16 with premium, and even the business editions had a limit of 128 gigs, a tiny fraction of the addressable space under a 64 bit architecture.
Even now there’s a limit, though it’s insanely high (over a terabyte) and you’re unlikely to ever see it unless you’re running a server on Windows instead of Windows Server (still limited, but in the dozens of terabytes) or Linux (which has a “limit” in the petabytes).
Eh, not that big of a deal. The exact same order where I got the 3200+ also had a stick of DDR 400 at all of 256MB. I don’t think dual-channel memory was even a thing yet, or I’m sure I would have gone that route. That 8GB limit was a long time off.