3 ms·

MC68008 was internally 16-bit. 16-bit "add.w d0, d1" takes 4 clock cycles and 32-bit "add.l d0, d1" takes 8.

• monocasa 7y ago
  32-bit internal architecture here meaning 32-bit registers, and a greater than 16-bit address space (yeah it's not full 32-bit, but neither read the full 68000).
  • vardump 7y ago
    68000 was a 32-bit ISA, but with 16-bit internals, mainly meaning ALU. 32-bit register file, flat 32-bit address registers (pointers). Moving data with move.l and move.w between registers was both 4 clock cycles. I wrote a ton of assembler on 68k back in the days and absolutely loved the large orthogonal register set and useful addressing modes. Going to x86 was rather painful after that. :-) Some ways 32-bit, but 16-bit level performance. I think in the end you can call it either way.
    • monocasa 7y ago
      But like, a z80 had a 4 bit ALU and internal datapath, but I don't see anyone calling it a 4 bit architecture.
      • vardump 7y ago
        Now that you mention, z80 always felt so 4-bittish... ;-)
        • monocasa 7y ago
          Haha, ok, fair enough. : )