@wizzwizz4 Modern chips are AMD64, although they implement an x86 mode.
>there are precious few threat models where it makes sense not to use microcode updates.
- You don't need microcode updates if you don't run proprietary malware on your computer; https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/blogs/lxo/pub/who-is-afraid-of-spectre-and-meltdown.en.html
- Microcode updates so far don't actually fix all of the discovered exploits (intel hasn't released updates to fix speculative execution issues for core 2, just stability improvements (+ something else) years ago) - meaning you're still potentially screwed if you run proprietary software on your computer, unless you run out and buy new hardware every 6 months.