Comment Multiprocessing made the difference (Score 1) 161
i've read the legacy x86 instructions were virtualized in the CPU a long time ago and modern intel processors are effectively RISC that translate to x86 in the CPU
Actually, the biggest change in CPUs was not so much Intel adapting RISC techniques in post Pentium CPUs, but rather, multiprocessing, and therefore, the Core platform taking hold
Remember, one of the things that RISC did better was the multiprocessing support for those who needed it. There were Pentium based multiprocessing systems too from companies like Sequent, but those at the time ran Unix, so the competition was really b/w the likes of Sequent, vs the Suns, HPs, SGIs, and so on. All low volume, and Intel enhancing multiprocessing capabilities of its CPUs would do nothing for its PC platform.
What changed that was when Microsoft decided to merge the win32 code bases and offer XP as their merged OS for both desktops and servers, it opened the window of opportunity for Intel and AMD. Since NT, in addition to supporting RISC CPUs like Alpha or MIPS, also supported SMP, Intel could take advantage of that fact and thrown in more cores at a platform, and Windows i.e. now NT, would be capable of handling it. That couldn't have worked w/ Windows 95-ME, but once NT took over the desktop, it could.
Once this happened, the RISC vs CISC game was over. RISC previously had a performance advantage running its own native software over Pentiums running Wintel software. The struggle to beat Intel in running Wintel software was lost first by MIPS, and then by Alpha. Once Intel could throw more cores at the problem w/o costing more than a SPARC or a Power, it was over. Intel being several generations ahead of Cypress, Ross, Fujitsu and even IBM could easily toss in 4-8 cores and still be cheaper than a SPARC CPU, not to mention the off the shelf motherboards and other peripheral logic. Once that happened, it became more cost effective to use Xeons to run Linux or FBSD than it was to run Solaris or AIX or even HP/UX.
Even in the case of the Itanium, discussed later in this thread, the initial Itaniums were just meant to be uniprocessor CPUs w/ several instructions concatenated together. Today, even Itaniums are multi-core - which solves the compatibility issue b/w generations, but then again throws into question why the Itanium would be needed in the first place, if one can just toss N number of, say, Atoms, and solve the problem.
Intel's process and manufacturing advantages helped, no doubt, but the big difference was multiprocessing becoming mainstream on the desktop due to the NT architecture replacing the Windows 95 architecture in Microsoft's desktop CPUs