Why were video game improvements in multiples of 8? (8-bit, 16-bit, 64, etc…)

Question

Why were video game improvements in multiples of 8? (8-bit, 16-bit, 64, etc…)

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Answer 1

there have been computers in the past that don’t fit with this pattern. the reason the “double the last time” pattern has been so popular though is

1. it’s simpler (a system with twice the width of the previous can reuse much of the architecture and logic. exceptions to this require additional logic to deal with)

2. the growth in memory use has been exponential. since the bit number also correlates to the address space, it makes sense for it to double with each generation