Sometimes I see the download options for a Windows application as Intel/AMD64 ARM64 and sometimes with reference to Win.11.

I know basically what an ARM CPU is but what has it got to do in the context of a typical Windows PC ?

Is there a new breed of CPUs specific to Win.11 ?
Am I behind the times missing something ?
Something like the new Mac M series CPUs ?

 

yes there are now somewhat mainstream laptops (and maybe some mini PC or AIO PC) with Snapdragon processor which is ARM based architecture, also nVidia DGX Spark uses custom ARM platform by nVidia..
yes, something like Apple Silicon processors in Macs, broadly speaking

 

AMD64, aka x86_64 or just x64 are the usual Intel and AMD CPUs we have today (Core i, Core Ultra, Pentium, Ryzen, Epyc, etc.).
ARM(64) is a different architecture typically used by Smartphones, other embedded devices, and now also Apple ("Apple silicon"). On PCs it needs the specific Windows version for ARM, e.g. Windows 11 on ARM.

 

As others have said ARM64 is for ARM chips running an operating system using those chips (Windows on ARM [WoA] or an ARM variant of Linux etc.).

AMD64 is standard 64 bit Intel/AMD chips. It's called sometimes AMD64 because the 64-bit instruction set came from AMD. The history goes that once the industry started wanting 64 bit chips both AMD and Intel came up with their own solution: Intel came up with IA-64 or Itanium and AMD with AMD64. Itanium lost for a lot of technical reasons but one big reason was that IA64 was not backwards compatible and could not run old x86 code whereas AMD64 could. So eventually Intel ate crow and stopped making Itanium chips (apart from a few big corporate customers that had multiyear contracts) and started using AMD64 for their new chips but "rebranded" it x86-64.

So it's x86_64/x64/AMD64, depending on who you ask, Intel would never call it AMD64 so they use x86_64, a lot of nerds call it just x64 because we're lazy to spell it out etc.

There were plenty of 64 bit chips already (SPARC, MIPS, Alpha etc.) but they were not really mass-market or consumer devices. Interestingly enough Windows NT was ported to Alpha but MS stopped doing multiplatform Windows early on and concentrated on x86 before realizing they did want an ARM version for mobile devices (the ill-fated Windows Phone) and tablets etc.

There's a lot of interesting tech history here about instruction set licensing and copyrights etc. but only if you're a pathological case like me.

 

The ARM64 instruction set is primarily for the Qualcomm CPUs that have emerged and offer performance and efficiency similar to Apple Silicon processors. The Snapdragon Elite X2 chips crush Intel and AMD in regards to performance per watt. It's pretty much the only way to get close to all day battery life while doing real work on a PC. Nvidia is next in line to release their ARM chip (allegedly the N1) for Windows because they can't let Qualcomm have all the rave. Not sure if it will have binary parity, so there may be a new NARM64 version. An interesting era is unfolding.

 

What is ARM64 and AMD64?

For the first time, ARM sells entire processors - March 25, 2026

Together with TSMC and Meta, ARM is launching the "AGI CPU." The company is thus primarily competing with AMD and Intel.
ARM is no longer just a provider of chip designs, but is now designing entire processors and selling them to data center operators. The first product is called the AGI CPU, a name inspired by the much-discussed "Artificial General Intelligence." However, the processor has nothing to do with such a super-AI; it is simply intended to be well-suited for orchestrating AI agents.

ARM has been preparing for this move for years. Qualcomm accused ARM of such plans as early as 2024 and complained of unfair competition. ARM's own processors are its strongest lever for increasing revenue. Aside from licensing fees, ARM currently only earns a small amount (royalty) per ARM processor deployed.

www.heise.de/news/Zum-ersten-Mal-verkauft-ARM-ganze-Prozessoren-11223833.html

 

Last edited: May 3, 2026 at 3:06 PM

I use both AMD and Snapdragon on windows 11.
Benefit of Arm is energy efficient like stated before, lasts whole workday for me.
Most of stuff will run on ARM. The problems are usually installers and copy protection, but some of the iLok stripped stuff runs nicely on ARM even though legal version cannot even be installed. Even TUS emulations run, but not multiple instances

 

Sega Dreamcast - Windows on Hitachi SuperH!

 

So will the ARM4, AMD64, Qualcomm, Snappyragon ... etc. be compatible with conventional apps, plugins purposed for Intel.AMD x86,x64 ?
- and be backward compatible to run legacy apps ?
-- surely they should need to be
--- I don't want all the great old legacy VST's & apps which I've hoarded over the years-decades be redundant by modern CPUs that cannon run them

 

I use this AMD - Ryzen 7 5800X3D here, and it plays both very old and very new without any problems.
With this CPU, you can play everything; don't be confused by all that "arm" stuff!

Simply stop the Windows update and back up and keep your working Windows system.
Take your Control over Windows 11/10/8/7 updates with StopUpdates10 Free! https://greatis.com/stopupdates10

 

Last edited: May 3, 2026 at 7:22 PM

The answer, as always, is "Yes, but..."

Prism, the Windows emulation layer that enables x64 software to run on ARM64 systems, can't run every single piece of software. When it can't, you can either set up an x64 virtual machine on Windows, try using your software on Linux, or simply continue purchasing x64 machines (which will be available for another 35+ years) to use alongside your ARM64 machine.

However, this isn't really relevant to 99% of people yet, given that uptake of ARM64 has been slow, designs have been delayed (Xiaomi, Nvidia+MediaTek) and things might slow down further yet as the tech crisis deepens.

 

Kinda. It's not about legacy. It's an additional platform. There is an emulation layer for running x86 apps on ARM Windows, however it's mediocre at best and too slow for things like DAWs or other time-critical applications. Vice versa, there is no built-in emulation for ARM software on regular Windows systems. But there's also no need for this, as long as everything is available for x86 as well.

 

also the X86/64 emulation in Windows ARM is much worse than what Apple does with Rosetta2 emulation on Apple SIlicon