3DNow!

3DNow! Extensions, also known as AMD 3DNow! or simply 3DNow!, is a set of instruction set extensions for x86 processors introduced by AMD in 1998. 3DNow! was designed to enhance the performance of multimedia applications by providing additional instructions for SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) operations.

3DNow! includes a set of instructions for performing operations on floating-point and integer data in parallel, similar to the SSE instruction set introduced by Intel around the same time. However, 3DNow! was specifically optimized for multimedia tasks, such as graphics and video processing.

3DNow! initially provided 21 new instructions that were optimized for tasks such as pixel manipulation, color conversion, and motion compensation. Later, AMD introduced 3DNow! Professional, which included additional instructions for improved multimedia performance.

3DNow! was largely superseded by SSE, which became the dominant SIMD instruction set for x86 processors. However, some legacy multimedia applications and older AMD processors may still use 3DNow! instructions for certain tasks.

It's worth noting that starting from AMD Bulldozer microarchitecture, AMD processors no longer support 3DNow! instructions. Instead, AMD processors now support AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions), which provides a more advanced and versatile SIMD instruction set for multimedia and other applications.