Components

64-Bit Takes Off

The Bit Map

Mark MatchoFifteen years passed between the first 32-bit chip and a full 32-bit Windows. The 64-bit switch may be faster: Both chips and OS are here.

64-Bit Era

Sept. 2003: Athlon 64 3200+ (2 GHz), Athlon 64 FX-51 (2.2 GHz)

Sept. 2003: Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Athlon 64 beta

April 2003: AMD Opteron 240, 242, 244

July 2002: Itanium 2 (900 MHz, 1 GHz)

Oct. 2001: Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium

May 2001: Intel Itanium (733, 800 MHz)

32-Bit Era (Ongoing)

Oct. 2001: Windows XP

Oct. 2001: Athlon XP 1500+ (1.33 GHz)

Nov. 2000: Pentium 4 (1.4, 1.5 GHz)

Feb. 2000: Windows 20001

Sept. 1999: AMD Athlon (600 MHz)

Feb. 1999: Pentium III (450, 500 MHz)

May 1997: Pentium II (233 MHz)

March 1993: Pentium (60, 66 MHz)

April 1989: 486DX (25 MHz)

Oct. 1985: Intel 386DX (16 MHz)

16-Bit Era (Ongoing)

June 1998: Windows 981

Aug. 1995: Windows 951

April 1992: Windows 3.1

May 1990: Windows 3.0

Nov. 1985: Microsoft Windows 1.0

Feb. 1982: Intel 80286 (6 MHz)

1Has 32-bit extensions.