arch

Tells the compiler to generate optimized code specialized for the processor that executes your program.

IDE Equivalent

Windows: Code Generation > Enable Enhanced Instruction Set

Linux: None

Mac OS X: None

Architectures

IA-32, Intel® 64 architectures

Syntax

Linux and Mac OS X:

None

Windows:

/arch:processor

Arguments

processor

Is the processor type. Possible values are:

IA32	Generates code that will run on any Pentium or later processor. Disables any default extended instruction settings, and any previously set extended instruction settings. This value is only available on IA-32 architecture.
SSE	This is the same as specifying IA32.
SSE2	Generates code for Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2).
SSE3	Generates code for Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSE3).
SSSE3	Generates code for Intel® Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSSE3).
SSE4.1	Generates code for Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 Vectorizing Compiler and Media Accelerators.

Default

SSE2	The compiler generates code for Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2).

Description

This option tells the compiler to generate optimized code specialized for the processor that executes your program.

Code generated with the values IA32, SSE, SSE2, or SSE3 should execute on any compatible non-Intel processor with support for the corresponding instruction set.

Options /arch and /Qx are mutually exclusive. If both are specified, the compiler uses the last one specified and generates a warning.

Alternate Options

Linux and Mac OS X: -m

Windows: None