Intel Corp (INTC)

[Haddock]

Otellini: Not any time soon. We use that in workstations; there are a number of server-type applications that take advantage of the memory addressability. But there are very few desktop client applications that take advantage of even the full 32 bits today. Even the Pentium 4 has a 40-bit architecture that very few software developers use. Why? Because you don't have the need for memory addressability, and memory subsystems to populate it are terribly expensive.

Is it true that the P4 has 40 bit adressing in PAE mode? I thought only Hammer had 40 bit PAE, with P4 limited to 36 bits. This link http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:jEQ7PXwKj9gJ:www.intel.com/idf/us/fall2002/presentations/DES124... seems to confirm that. Assuming he isn't thinking of Hammer, he must be thinking of Prescott, though none of the info I have seen mentions 40 bit PAE, eg. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7881 or http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/1034139658.html or http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/1045703066.html

His reason for why people don't use PAE is rather amusing. It couldn't be because PAE is a pain the rear for programmers, could it?