• Earl Turlet@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      Contrary to some misconceptions, these SIMD capabilities did not amount to the processor being “128-bit”, as neither the memory addresses nor the integers themselves were 128-bit, only the shared SIMD/integer registers. For comparison, 128-bit wide registers and SIMD instructions had been present in the 32-bit x86 architecture since 1999, with the introduction of SSE. However the internal data paths were 128bit wide, and its processors were capable of operating on 4x32bit quantities in parallel in single registers.

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        • hansl@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          The PS2 had full 128 bits DMA bus, and full 128 bits registers. IIRC Dreamcast too.

          • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Contrary to some misconceptions, these SIMD capabilities did not amount to the processor being “128-bit”, as neither the memory addresses nor the integers themselves were 128-bit, only the shared SIMD/integer registers

            • hansl@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              OP’s question is very vague. I would argue that the PS2 was indeed capable of “128 bits computing”, even if it isn’t technically a 128 bits computer.

              I’m also pretty sure the comment was tongue in cheek.