The Evolution of x86 SIMD: From SSE to AVX-512 (bgslabs.org)

The article traces how x86 SIMD evolved from Intel’s MMX (1993) through SSE and SSE2 as a mix of engineering tradeoffs, OS compatibility constraints, and competitive pressure from AMD. It highlights key turning points—MMX’s register aliasing compromise and limited usability without mode-switching, Intel’s SSE response to AMD’s 3DNow!, and the later SSE wars shaped by gaming/DirectX and the shift to x86-64. Overall, it frames SIMD progress less as a straight technical line and more as a behind-the-scenes outcome of marketing, corporate decisions, and incremental fixes.