what;s thedifference btw a 16 bit system and a 32 bit system

[david_wang]

Dear All,

I have a silly question:

what's the difference between a 16 bit system and a 32 bit system?

With thanks,
David

[gshv]

The difference is in data bus width. In 16-bit system 16 bits of data can be transfered at the same time, in 32-bit system - 32 bits of data.

Gennadiy

[CPUShack]

[CPUShack]

yup, register width is HOW it is defined.

As I can access 32bit memory sizes with a 16bit CPU by doing 2 register transfers.
first loading the lower 2 bytes, then the uper 2 bytes.

[machine]

The data bus transmits and recieves data from the interior of the CPU.

The address bus values are issued from different pins (usually) and tells the peripheral or memory what location to look at next for data.

If the processor is described as 16 bits then this means the data values that can be processed at one time, while the address bus can be 16 bits too, or 32 bits or more.

Sometimes 32 bit processors will have only 16 pins to move data and data is moved out in two cycles.

[CPUShack]

yup, the NS 32K series is the best example.

They are 32bit processors with either 8, 16 or 32 bit data buses