3DNow!
Sign in to save3DNow! is a deprecated extension to the x86 instruction set developed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It adds single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instructions to the base x86 instruction set, enabling it to perform vector processing of floating-point vector operations using vector registers. This improvement enhances the performance of many graphics-intensive applications. The first microprocessor to implement 3DNow! was the AMD K6-2, introduced in 1998. In appropriate applications, this enhancement raised the speed by about 2–4 times.
Key facts
- Computer hardware.name
- 3DNow!
- Computer hardware.logo
- 3dnow-logo.svg
- Computer hardware.designfirm
- Advanced Micro Devices
- Computer hardware.introduced
- 1998
- Computer hardware.type
- instruction set architecture
via Wikipedia infobox
~10 min read
Article
11 sectionsContents
- History
- Versions
- 3DNow!
- 3DNow! extensions
- 3DNow! Professional
- 3DNow! and the Geode GX/LX
- Advantages and disadvantages
- Processors supporting 3DNow!
- References
- Further reading
- External links
3DNow! is a deprecated extension to the x86 instruction set developed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It adds single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instructions to the base x86 instruction set, enabling it to perform vector processing of floating-point vector operations using vector registers. This improvement enhances the performance of many graphics-intensive applications. The first microprocessor to implement 3DNow! was the AMD K6-2, introduced in 1998. In appropriate applications, this enhancement raised the speed by about 2–4 times.
However, the instruction set never gained much popularity, and AMD announced in August 2010 that support for 3DNow! would be dropped in future AMD processors, except for two instructions, PREFETCH and PREFETCHW. These two instructions are also available in Bay-Trail Intel processors.