Essentially correct, the x86_64 chips (AMD64 and later copied by Intel who calls it EM64T) are really x86 processors with 64 bit extensions (additional registers and stuff activated by a 64 bit operating system kernel). They can run both 32 bit and 64 bit code natively. That doesn't mean anything inferior... it's the best of both worlds. Intel's idea of IA64 didn't really catch on, it was too incompatible. Microsoft thumbed their noses at it because too much of their rubbish would have had to be rewritten from the ground up lol
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