Posted by
michael
on from the double-the-pleasure-double-the-fun dept.
msolnik writes: "Over at RealWorldTech they've published an article on the future of 64-bit performance. This article covers the different technology from Sparc to Hammer. Its a great read if you are looking for information on up-and-coming products from Intel, AMD, Sun, and Compaq."
AMDs going for a slightly different track, AMD
is the only one trying to put 64-bit on the
desktop. Now for us linux freaks SUSE Linux
and NetBSB will be fine for a 64-bit desktop,
but if AMD want to lock up some of the market
into x86-64, they really need a mainstream OS.
Unfortainately that means Windows, and "if
we build it they will come" doesn't necessary
work if they is no competition. Still in the
mean time, Crawhammer will be a damn fine 32-bit
chip as well, and Sledgehammer will bring
high-end servers right down to mid range prices.
Intel learning from their mistakes
by
jazzyjez
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Much as I hate to say it, the Intel McKinley looks like a very well designed piece of kit, and it appears Intel have learned from their mistakes with the P4 by including a big, fast 3-level cache on the McKinley. It's also good to see them reducing their pipeline size, which means it may finally be able to compete with the G4 in terms of efficiency. However, this is of course going to kick them in the teeth in terms of competing on processor speed, which they have been pushing so hard recently in their marketing.
The same can't be said of AMD's offering, although in fairness the Hammer is not directed at the server market unlike the McKinley. The pipeline is longer than both their previous design and the McKinley, which is going to give them a performance hit. We can only hope that their cache is as good as Intel's.
What amazes me is that they can still keep adding instruction extensions without too much of a performance hit. Anyone looked at the latest instruction set documentation for these processors? Eugh! The pain of backwards compatibility...
Slashdot Mirror
is the only one trying to put 64-bit on the
desktop. Now for us linux freaks SUSE Linux
and NetBSB will be fine for a 64-bit desktop,
but if AMD want to lock up some of the market
into x86-64, they really need a mainstream OS.
Unfortainately that means Windows, and "if
we build it they will come" doesn't necessary
work if they is no competition. Still in the
mean time, Crawhammer will be a damn fine 32-bit
chip as well, and Sledgehammer will bring
high-end servers right down to mid range prices.
Much as I hate to say it, the Intel McKinley looks like a very well designed piece of kit, and it appears Intel have learned from their mistakes with the P4 by including a big, fast 3-level cache on the McKinley. It's also good to see them reducing their pipeline size, which means it may finally be able to compete with the G4 in terms of efficiency. However, this is of course going to kick them in the teeth in terms of competing on processor speed, which they have been pushing so hard recently in their marketing.
The same can't be said of AMD's offering, although in fairness the Hammer is not directed at the server market unlike the McKinley. The pipeline is longer than both their previous design and the McKinley, which is going to give them a performance hit. We can only hope that their cache is as good as Intel's.
What amazes me is that they can still keep adding instruction extensions without too much of a performance hit. Anyone looked at the latest instruction set documentation for these processors? Eugh! The pain of backwards compatibility...