AMD released the 3DNow! instructions in 1998 to improve CPU performance by adding SMID instructions to the base x86 instruction set and allowing vector processing of floatingpoint operations. The first implementation included 21 new instructions that were approved for SIMD floating point operations. In the late 90s and early 2000s, these instructions have been great for a number of applications like the internet, playing video, and even Photoshop. AMD supported the instructions with processors from the K6-2 to Bulldozer chips. However, the Intel introduced its competing SSE instructions shortly after AMD released its 3DNow! instructions for the K6 CPU. As with Pentium 3, the SSE instruction became dominant. So AMD also adopted SSE, when SSE2 arrived on the scene. AMD continued to adopt Intel’s SSE instruction sets, so 3DNow! suddenly died when the first FX computers launched. Those ‘phenom II’ chips were final ones to support instructions. The standard of the standard is SSE and its diverse designs, including SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, 4,1,4A, SSE5, and more. After 23 years, 3DNow! finally left the Linux platform forever through the removal of 500 lines of code that have lived in the kernel for more than twenty-five years. In the unlikely event that you have older programs that require AMD’s home-brewed instruction sets, Linux 5.16 is your last stop on the upgrade train.
