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Intel's 64-Bit Pentium 4s Hit The Streets

ThinSkin writes "Nearly 18 months after rival AMD released its 64-bit processors, Intel quietly added its first 64-bit Pentium 4 microprocessors to the market on Sunday. Four versions of the Intel Pentium 4 6XX series were announced at speeds up to 3.6-GHz, a frequency grade lower than the existing 5XX series. Prices will range from $224 to $605. Intel also added the 3.73-GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition to its lineup, a $999 chip that is fabricated on a finer 90-nm process than its older 130-nm P4EE components. As Slashdot previously reported, the 64-bit series will likely be the major enhancement to the Pentium 4 line before the introduction of the Pentium D "Smithfield," Intel's first dual-core part, which is slated for next quarter."

256 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Pentium D. Smithfield? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's a good man, I've worked with him for over a decade. He's no Bill Brasky, though/

    1. Re:Pentium D. Smithfield? by davisk · · Score: 3, Funny

      That Bill Brasky is a sonofabitch, he'd eat a homeless person if you dared him.

    2. Re:Pentium D. Smithfield? by rco3 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Bill Brasky fathered every sonofabitch on Slashdot with a User ID greater than 198978!

      --

      Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
    3. Re:Pentium D. Smithfield? by Queer+Boy · · Score: 2, Funny

      We once had a bachelor party for Bill Brasky. He ate the entire cake, before we could tell him there was a stripper in it.

      --
      Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
    4. Re:Pentium D. Smithfield? by Class+Act+Dynamo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Everyone: TO BILL BRASKY!!!
      Mark McKinney: I am wearing a di-aper!
      *Silence*
      Everyone: TO BILL BRASKY!!!
      Will Ferrell: "Did I ever tell you about the time Brasky took me out to go get a drink with him? We go off looking for a bar and we can't find one. Finally Brasky takes me to a vacant lot and says, 'Here we are.' We sat there for a year and a half and sure enough someone constructs a bar around us. The day they opened we ordered a shot, drank it, and then burned the place to the ground. Brasky yelled over the roar of the flames, 'Always leave things the way you found em!'"

      --
      My other computer is a Jacquard loom.
  2. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now the A46 prices should come down a bit.

    1. Re:Great by nofx_3 · · Score: 1

      It still beats my 8 zilog z80 that I have in this baby. In fact it beats the 32bits in my pentium.

      --
      Visualize Whirled Peas
    2. Re:Great by smittyoneeach · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not to be confused with an AK47.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  3. A little late? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Um - A little slow? I've had an EM64T "630" for about 3 weeks now.

    1. Re:A little late? by Thornkin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What is the difference between these P4 em64t machines and the ones I've been able to buy before this?

    2. Re:A little late? by Transeau · · Score: 1

      Enhanced SpeedStep is nice - CPU idles at about 88F now. Speed is a bit better with standard Linux/XP - 2M Cache helps. Compression and Decompression under x86-64 Linux and Windows XP "64 Bit Edition" is VERY VERY fast.

    3. Re:A little late? by Transeau · · Score: 1

      Excuse me?

    4. Re:A little late? by skroz · · Score: 5, Informative

      I was about to make the same comment; I just picked up a 630 based system last week. I'm running 32-bit XP on it at the moment, and it is very, very fast. Of course, that doesn't say a thing about the 64-bit features. Then again, this desktop is an upgrade from a 1.4 GHz P4 mobile, so maybe I'm easily wowed.

      I've run SLES9 64- and 32-bit on identical hardware with EM64T equipped Xeons for file servers, and I can definitely "feel" the difference. I don't have any hard benchmarks, but the system with the 64-bit OS definitely seems more responsive under heavy load than the 32-bit configuration.

      The true test will come when we get some serious analytical apps running. Beyond the ability to allocate more memory under a 64-bit OS, I expect to see moderate performance increases, though nothing earth shattering. Time will tell.

      --
      -- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
    5. Re:A little late? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's funny to me, how one can "tell the difference" between a 32bit and 64bit system, of the same frequency, and all else the same... My guess is the 64bit system would actually be slower, all else being equal. It's more stuff to move around!

      Personally, I think it's all psychological. Deep down in your subconcious, you're willing your machine to be that much faster, because, well, you paid more for it!

      Let's be realistic, the only pracitcal performance gain you're ever going to see from a 64 bit program, is if it does 64 bit math... And the best chance for people to encounter this (at least for non-sciencey types who don't need big numbers or double percision floats) is in a 64 bit file system, in the event, say that WinFS is 64 bit. Aside from that it's wasted on most people.

    6. Re:A little late? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      He said, "RTFA, you fuckwit.".

    7. Re:A little late? by digitalchinky · · Score: 1

      Speaking of slow, did extremetech just pull the article - I'm getting asp errors about 'file not found'

      Mirrors? :-) Ok, I'll use google...

    8. Re:A little late? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Funny you should ask, I've installed both.

      I just finished dowloading and installing the beta ms is offering.

      It installed fine except for disabling lilo and drivers surprisingly weren't hard to find. It didn't seem any more responsive than it's 32-bit couterpart.

      As for application's, I've only installed two so far: winamp and winrar. They both installed fine except their file assosiations never registered, and after making the correct assosiations winamp took over a minute to load when running an mp3 from explorer. Though when running the executable winamp loads normally.

      I also tried four games, GTA Vice City, Kotor, Doom 3, and Star Wars Galaxies. The first two wouldn't run (a sound issure with gta, and an opengl issue with kotor) but Doom3 and swg ran just fine.

      From what I understand ms dropped compatability with 16-bit apps so if you run anything that makes 16-bit api calls it'll probably fail.

      So, though it was brief, my first impression was fairly dissapointing.

      As for linux, about a month or two ago I tried the Debian amd64 dist. It too installed fine, hardware worked without any issue (nforce board with geforce video) and I had no issues with X.
      Most packages were available to install, with the only notable exception being Open Office.

      The kernel was as had all the usual modules availible and I was easily able to compile nvidia's kernel module with no problem using module-assitant.

      Debian provides a linux32 package for running apps in compatability mode which worked ok, I can't remember the specifics but most apps ran fine with the exception of cedega which I couldn't get to run (some vague error which I can't remember).

      There's also a pretty good howto on setting up a chroot environment for running 32bit apps natively. This worked almost flawless though I still couldn't get cedega to run (vanilla wine and OOo ran fine though).

      I'd been running 32bit debian/unstable for about six months on the same system and I was pleasantly surprised at how much more responsive both the console and X seemed under it's 64-bit equivilent. Apps seemed to launch faster too (my first reaction to loading up firefox in gnome was WOW THAT WAS QUICK).

      Under both Debian and Xp the memory usage was higher than under their 32bit counterparts. I think under Xp with just firefox running it's using just over 120mb physical ram and right now under XP x64 the mem usage is 233mb.

      So anyway I was pretty happy with the Debian's 64bit linux but I'm gonna hold on to my 32bit xp for my gaming habit.

    9. Re:A little late? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      On a real architecture, this would be true. The only difference would be that load / stores of 64-bit values (i.e. all pointers and probably a lot of integers) would be slower than their 32-bit counterparts (unless the width of the bus were doubled as well). With x86-64, however, you are slightly less starved of general purpose registers than you are with x86-32, which may make a significant difference to performance.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    10. Re:A little late? by skroz · · Score: 1

      I actually agree to an extent. Tasks do not appear to be occurring any "faster" with 64-bit SLES9. But in cases where the system is under extremely heavy load (CPU and disk IO,) the system continues to respond to other commands very quickly. Much more quickly than the same hardware with SLES9 32-bit under the same load. Hyperthreading is enabled in both cases.

      Again, I'm in no way suggesting that "64-bit"ness is going to make the system faster overall. I'm simply pointing out what I've seen in some informal testing. Perhaps it has something to do with HT under EM64T, perhaps it has to do with memory, perhaps my test is flawed. But I stand by my statement that the system appears to be more responsive under the 64-bit OS.

      64-bit analytical applications that can actually take advantage of 64-bit instructions (that do "64 bit math") will almost certainly see a boost in performance. Finally, we'll be able to perform simulations that require huge amounts of memory on cheap intel hardware.

      --
      -- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
  4. Was it just me... by isny · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was it just me or did anyone read that as the Pentium D "Seinfeld"?
    Not that there's anything wrong with it...

    1. Re:Was it just me... by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Funny

      "no! no cache for you! you come back one-year."

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:Was it just me... by Mr.Progressive · · Score: 1

      You're an anti-pentite!

      --
      Okay, so a philosopher, a philologist, and a philatelist walk into a bar...
    3. Re:Was it just me... by carlmenezes · · Score: 1

      That's what happens when you try to mess with the pipeline

      --
      Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
    4. Re:Was it just me... by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Was it just me or did anyone read that as the Pentium D "Seinfeld"?
      Not that there's anything wrong with it..."


      Shrinkage!!

      Uh, no offense. ;)

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  5. Power dissipation? by vectorian798 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Anyone know how much heat these put out?

    1. Re:Power dissipation? by dynoman7 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Anyone know how much heat these put out?

      ...about a volkswagon's worth.

      --
      Blarf.
    2. Re:Power dissipation? by boingyzain · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to some tech sites, it hits a maximum of 52deg Celsius under full Prime95 load. That's a lot better than the 65+ hit by the .09 micron based Pentium 4's.

      Intel has done its homework on these Prescott-based EMT64 chips. They allow a reduction in voltage and die size, which results in a cheaper core too.

    3. Re:Power dissipation? by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 5, Funny

      You mean the heat that you get from converting a volkswagon to energy (E=mc2), right?

    4. Re:Power dissipation? by phrasebook · · Score: 1

      it hits a maximum of 52deg Celsius

      Then the question becomes 'with how much noise?'

      I can't wait to get a Pentium M CPU and board and whack a great big P4 heatsink on it with a very slow (or no) fan. Just can't accept the noise that's required to cool these P4 chips.

    5. Re:Power dissipation? by SirTalon42 · · Score: 1

      65?!?!?

      The P4 in my laptop had been running at 75 degrees C while sitting idle! (it DIED if I opened anything like ut2k4 or even CS)

    6. Re:Power dissipation? by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That means nothing. If the heatsinking is good enough, you can get it below 0C. The real useful number is power dissipation: the lower it is, the less heatsinking you'll need to get the core down to reasonable temperatures.

      I bet this CPUs will consume as much (and more) than regular P4. Which is bad, unless your house lacks central heating.

    7. Re:Power dissipation? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The Library of Congress holds about 18 terabytes of information. Printed out, that would be 80 characters/line 54 lines per page single spaced, single sided, or 4320 bytes per page, a stack of 4166666666.66 pages, rounded to 4,166,666,667 pages.

      Paper when burned has an energy density of 4,725,382.41 calories per kilogram. 500 sheets of paper (US letter) weighs 9.07 kilograms, so the weight of the printed out library of congress would be 75,583,333.3 kilograms.

      Thus as an energy unit, the library of congress would represent a value of 3.57160154E14 calories.

      Yep, that's about how much the new chip will need to run for about an hour.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    8. Re:Power dissipation? by macklin01 · · Score: 1

      You'll never get below ambient temperature with an aircooled heatsink. (In this house, we obey the rules of thermodynamics!) -- Paul

      --
      OpenSource.MathCancer.org: open source comp bio
    9. Re:Power dissipation? by Lisandro · · Score: 1

      May be bad phrasing from me, but i'm pretty sure a water-cooled cooling block counts as a "heatsink"; so does a phase change one, which can get electronics below 0C with little problem.

      Anyway, can't argue with Homer!

    10. Re:Power dissipation? by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      Water cooling just increases the surface area of the heatsink by using water to move the heat around. You still can't get below ambient.

      You need active cooling such as a peltier unit to get below ambient.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    11. Re:Power dissipation? by Clay+Pigeon+-TPF-VS- · · Score: 1

      No, he means the amount of kinetic energy a standard volkswagon sized meteor impacts the earth with.

      --
      Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
    12. Re:Power dissipation? by kernel_dan · · Score: 2, Funny

      Whoa. I did some math and the energy contained in any object with the mass of a VW Beetle (810kg) is enough to bring 217 trillion kilograms of water from room temperature to boiling.

      --

      Illegal? Samir, This is America.
    13. Re:Power dissipation? by Frodo+Crockett · · Score: 1
      I can't wait to get a Pentium M CPU and board and whack a great big P4 heatsink on it with a very slow (or no) fan. Just can't accept the noise that's required to cool these P4 chips.

      Get a Zalman flower cooler. Zero noise. Then you'll want to get a quiet PSU and a fanless heatsink for your graphics card.

      --
      "The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
    14. Re:Power dissipation? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 2
      You'll never get below ambient temperature with an aircooled heatsink.

      He didn't say "air cooled", he just said "heatsink". A heatsink is simply an object that maintains a cooler temperature and draws out heat. It could very well be using refrigeration to do this.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    15. Re:Power dissipation? by InfinityBuffer · · Score: 2, Funny

      how would you know the "Mass Defect" of a VW Beetle? thats like knowing the molar mass of a fish.

    16. Re:Power dissipation? by strider44 · · Score: 1

      usually when you say "water-cooled" you mean "refrigerated". Though in this case it would have to be vaporchilled or using liquid nitrogen, because, of course, you can't cool a chip below 0 degrees with water...

    17. Re:Power dissipation? by vicotnik · · Score: 1

      Maybe it didn't use to mean anything, but times are changing. It gets a lot harder to cool processors as you have a lot more power dissipation per area unit. Having low temperatures with standard heatsinks at least means that they've solved the problem of distributing the heat reasonably well.

    18. Re:Power dissipation? by Wiz · · Score: 5, Informative
      See this link, most interesting: Intel vs AMD.

      Specifically, it shows two things (note, the clock throttling wasn't working on the Opteron processors mind):

      1. They output a lot more heat.
      2. Under 64-bit mode, Intel generally runs slower. AMD run quicker. Guess who did a good 64-bit implementation?
    19. Re:Power dissipation? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Volkswagon? Is that the railway equivalent of a Volkswagen?

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    20. Re:Power dissipation? by tomjen · · Score: 2, Funny

      this site claims, that the average mass of a fish is 18,4 pounds. Or 8.34609961 kilograms or 8346,08861g.
      Avogadros constant is 6.02214199 × 10**23, so the molar mass of fish is 5,02613307 × 10**27 or 5026,13307 septillion
      Not sure what use it is though.

      --
      Freedom or George Bush
    21. Re:Power dissipation? by tomjen · · Score: 1

      You could use helium in a liqued state that would make it very cold (helium boils at -268.934C/-452.0812 and melt at -259C/-434.2F under normal pressure)

      --
      Freedom or George Bush
    22. Re:Power dissipation? by MoralHazard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Once more we play our deadly game (of semantics!)...

      1) When you say "heatsink", you're just talking about a type of radiator. Usually, we restrict the term "heatsink" to a local radiator, an object in direct contact with the CPU core (or whatever your heat source is), as opposed to a remote radiator that uses fluid exchange to transfer heat from the core to the radiator.

      2) ANY cooling system, be it passive/active, air/water, local/remote, is going to incorporate a radiator somewhere. Even with phase change systems or Peltiers, you eventually have to dump heat passively. Meaning that any cooling system will have a radiator of some kind.

      SO: If you refer to a cooling setup as a just a heatsink, when it incorporates some kind of phase-change or other active cooling method, you're being ambiguous and misleading with your language. The real distinction is that active cooling systems can chill the CPU to an arbitrarily low temperature approaching the limit of 0K, whereas passive cooling systems can only chill the CPU to an arbitrarily low temperature approaching the limit of the ambient temperature of the radiator's environment.

      I think it's best not to confuse the issue by referring to active cooling systems as "heatsink" setups, because they HAVE to have a radiator of some kind. It's like calling a submarine a "boat"--while technically correct, the term doesn't describe the subject in a way that adequetely distinguishes its important characteristics.

    23. Re:Power dissipation? by BritishNick · · Score: 2, Funny

      Of course if you want to get REALLY picky, we should be calling them Convectors, not Radiators, as the vast majority of the heat is transferred to the air.

      Just my two-penneths worth :)

      --
      No good deed ever goes unpunished.
    24. Re:Power dissipation? by toomanyquestions · · Score: 1

      words on the street is 135 Watts; I heard someone said Intel CPU may hit 150 Watts pretty soon.

    25. Re:Power dissipation? by Lisandro · · Score: 1

      Actually, when i say "heatsink", i reffer to just that: a device that sinks (recieves) heat. We can then dispose of it in several ways, but you first have to get it off the source; a CPU core in this case. Still, i agree; i could phrased it better (and spare all this discussion :) - i stand corrected.

    26. Re:Power dissipation? by snorklewacker · · Score: 1

      > That means nothing. If the heatsinking is good enough, you can get it below 0C

      If your house is below 0C, yes. I think you mean active cooling like a heatpump or peltier junction. Anyway, know what happens when you get your CPU that cool? Condensation. CPUs dont like water.

      --
      I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
    27. Re:Power dissipation? by Mr+Z · · Score: 1

      At least, not liquid water at anything near 1 atmosphere. Theoretically, you could do it with water vapor at a low enough pressure, but I doubt it's remotely practical.

      You know, nuclear reactors move liquid, non-boiling water around at well over 100 degrees Celsius, but it's at much more than 1 atmosphere.

      --Joe
    28. Re:Power dissipation? by zBrain · · Score: 1

      From your link:

      "In terms of raw performance, we still have an even split between the Xeon and the Opteron."

      Amazing how you got "AMD kicks Intel's ass" from this article.

  6. Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now Intel can cook my toast using more than 4 GB of memory!

  7. Keep buying, suckers! by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Funny

    I love you suckers out there who are buying these top of the line, bleeding edge chips. It brings the price of "outdated" hardware back to reasonable levels.

    Now if you excuse me, I have a 486 DX4 100MHz that I've been keeping an eye on for a while.

    1. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yup.. $1000 for a processor. Wowzers!

      Low end AMD or P4 processors are dirt cheap now and do everything you could want unless you're running weather simulations or something.

    2. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      'Suckers' or 'people who need as much horsepower as they can get'.

      On that note, can you people start buying up tons of those 27" plasmas? I seriously need a 19" for cheap. Trust me, you need'em...

    3. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know the odd thing? 468s are so old now that they're probably more expensive than, say, Pentium 2s just because there aren't as many around any more. Same with RAM -- if you look at Best Buy ads SIMMs are more expensive than DIMMs.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    4. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by MatthewNewberg · · Score: 1

      I've already thrown out all my 486, Cryix(s) and Pentiums. I'm about ready to throw out a BH6 with Celeron 366 (Runs at 550 stable), not to mention I have another ageing p3 700mhz. There is really nothing you can do with them, and they are not worth the time to sell on Ebay. If I am going to spend the time setting up a computer it is atleast going to be a slower athlon with DDR ram. There is no reason for me to waste my time with anything slower. I am willing to accept suggestions.

    5. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 1

      Set em up in an OpenMosix cluster and hide em in an out of the way place. Instant free upgrade on your main box.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    6. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by solarium_rider · · Score: 1

      Indeed, 468s on ebay are bit more than Pentium IIs. But isn't this like comparing cars to cpus?

      --
      -- How many sigs are as useless as this one?
    7. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by rebelcool · · Score: 2, Informative

      embedded systems.

      there are far, far, FAR more embedded computers in the world than there are PCs. millions more.

      the z80 originated in 1976 and is still mass produced.

      --

      -

    8. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Funny

      Damn, we're sitting on a goldmine! /me sees a new source of income.

    9. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by simcop2387 · · Score: 1

      i've got a dang metaphorical endless unobtanium mine then, i've got a couple of 8086's and 286XT's heck i've even got a 286XT laptop that still works! (only weighs 45lbs. [not including power supply])

    10. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 1

      Same for hard drives. In $/GB, the best deal you can get for Ultra-ATA is a 200 or 250 GB drive. 80 gig and below drives are more expensive for the storage you get, as are the hu-freaking-mongous drives.

      --
      Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
      Africus aut Europaeus?
    11. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I know -- I waited too long to expand my RAID array of 60GB drives, so now I'm better off just replacing the whole thing.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    12. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by Lisandro · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Touche. Those old microprocessors are still very useful; older ones like the Z80 or 6502 even more than newer x86 ones. Zilog is still very much alive and selling countless variants of the Z80 core.

    13. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by IamNotWitchboy · · Score: 1

      If you really wanted to "drive the industry forward" you'd be using a AMD FX-55 or something exotic like that. I believe they cost about the same than these "new 64-bit processors" from intel.

      Not saying that you aren't, but your reply seemed to imply that these P4's are doing that.

      Also if you plan to switch to dual core by the end of the year, there's no reason to pay for these overpriced cpu's now when something much better is a few months away.

      --
      The best cure for insomnia is realizing that it is already time to get up. EsteEncanto.com - Blog on technology, urban
    14. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by tomjen · · Score: 1

      one of the treat hackers have is pushing computers to or above there limits, if you can get HL2 to run on a 100mhz, i will give you more respect than if you had 1000$ to waste on a chip, that is going to be half as expensive in 6 months.

      --
      Freedom or George Bush
    15. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by tomjen · · Score: 1

      Install openBSD and use them as dedicated hardware firewall.

      --
      Freedom or George Bush
    16. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by rhuntley12 · · Score: 1

      We run specialized 486 boxes here to communicate between our private systems and our terminals. They work great, and seem to run forever.

    17. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you're willing to buy by the truckload, you can probably get 486s for the scrap value of the steel in the system. There's still people with acres of that crap.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    18. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      These days the x86-compatible processors are getting pretty cheap, for example some of the slower atmel avr chips. (I really need to start fiddling with my starter development system... I took a class in x86 asm and I'm going to forget everything ere long.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    19. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but I mean what I'm doing with assembler. It will probably be pretty nice to work with a more reasonable architecture and instruction set.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:Keep buying, suckers! by lgw · · Score: 1

      I pay more for the power to run my array of 4GB drives than a new 80GB drive would cost. Hmmmm, why didn't I think of that before ...

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  8. Pentium 4 Extreme Edition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does that come with... uh... Intel Extreme Graphics? Sweet!

  9. Well, better late than never by CarlinWithers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It would be interesting to see how much business Intel theoretically lost to AMD as a result of their failed first 64-bit attempt and subsequent delay.

    1. Re:Well, better late than never by vectorian798 · · Score: 1

      Well other than the business that AMD gained before this release, I doubt Intel lost much. Reasons:

      1. Most people don't care about AMD versus Intel, and will just buy - and actually since Intel is more of a household name than AMD is, Intel still has an advantage here.
      2. Though one could bring up compatibility issues (Linux anyone?) I'm sure they will be solved soon since it is a major release. Processor compatibility is not a lasting issue for most things, especially to common users.
      3. Most people don't know that Intel's first attempt failed or that there was even an attempt.

    2. Re:Well, better late than never by WasterDave · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I imagine none - or some number close to it. However, they've certainly lost appreciable business due to the A64 kicking the P4's arse at the high end, and appreciable revenue due to downward price pressure from the A64 somewhere in the midrange.

      What's more interesting is how for the first time Intel are playing catch up on their own platform. Retrofitting EM64T or whatever it's called has got to be costing them in terms of taking the initiative on new technologies - and between that and having to move to the Pentium M line for future processors their forward movement has basically dropped to nil.

      OTOH they may well be rescued by the dual core thing - it does, after all, have a much bigger bang/buck than 64 bit ever did. Interesting times ahead...

      Dave

      --
      I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
    3. Re:Well, better late than never by bprime · · Score: 1

      Why, are you their lawyer?

    4. Re:Well, better late than never by whovian · · Score: 2

      Likewise, it would be interesting to see how much business Intel excluded from AMD due to exclusive OEM discounts. Intel has been accused as guilty of this illegal practice by the Japan Federal Trade Commission.

      --
      To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
    5. Re:Well, better late than never by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      between that and having to move to the Pentium M line

      Don't you mean having to move back to the P3 line? As far as I'm concerned, the Pentium Ms are a glaring example of how stupid the whole P4 experiment was. They applied their shrunken process and advancements in material technology to the P3, retrofit a few of the things they picked up along the way on the P4s and called it a Pentium M. And look how its performance compares with the P4s!

      Imagine what the performance of these Pentium Ms would have been if Intel hadn't wasted all that time on the P4s in the first place.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    6. Re:Well, better late than never by obeythefist · · Score: 1

      I understand that Microsoft's 64 bit Windows XP doesn't install from i386, it installs from a folder called "AMD64"

      Sure, it doesn't help AMD become a household name, but somewhere, some part of intel is crouched in a corner sobbing.

      --
      I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
    7. Re:Well, better late than never by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Well, the answer would be the number of 64-bit chips that AMD has sold that were purchased at least in part due to being 64-bit. Not knowing whether they were sold for 64-bit use or not, you could just go by the number of 64-bit chips AMD has sold. This is a big number by AMD standards -- simply HUGE in the server space, where AMD didn't have much of a presence with K7. By Intel standards, it isn't that big, so Intel hasn't really lost as much as you might think in terms of real money.

      By Itanium standards (which I'm assuming is the "failed 64-bit attempt" you refer to) it's quite a bit, which is really a sign that the problem with Itanium wasn't potential sales lost to AMD, but the cost of the project itself compared to the return.

      Back to that server thing -- in terms of raw sales lost in terms of being late to the show with 64-bit x86, the numbers aren't that great. But the clearest effect is shown in the price of the Xeon line. Formerly a spot AMD didn't really compete in, it was a cash cow for Intel that helped fund price wars in the desktop market. The average price dropped by half pretty quickly. So they at least had to lower prices out of concern for losing substantial sales. Woo, competition.

      Which, going full circle, still only amounts to "slightly less monstrous piles of cash" in terms of the impact on Intel.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    8. Re:Well, better late than never by BitchKapoor · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Wrong. Try "ia64" for 64bit amd chips and "x64" for 64 bit intel chips and clue up before you post.

      Wait, what does "ia64" have to do with "64bit amd chips" other than that those are two entirely different architectures? I don't understand this post.

    9. Re:Well, better late than never by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      64-bit technology is more interesting for servers, than workstations.
      AMD were expected to do very well last quarter, but they in fact gained very little marketshare in the server market according to the Q4 reports. However, Intel was forced to reduce the price of it's Xeons and lost margin.
      I am betting, that it's only because of slow up-take and this quarter we will see AMD make some serious gains.

    10. Re:Well, better late than never by Spirilis · · Score: 1

      Wrong again. Try "ia64" for Intel's first 64-bit architecture, Itanium, aka Itanic, which is a niche product used more for business (and a royal pain in the arse, if I may say so).

      Try "x86_64" for AMD's 64-bit architecture (although AMD is pushing "AMD64" as the name I believe?)
      Intel's new 64-bit in these EM64t chips is a compatibility with AMD64 (aka x86_64).

      --
      the real at&t mix
    11. Re:Well, better late than never by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean having to move back to the P3 line?

      You mean the Pentium Pro line? The changes going from PPro to P2 to P3 were no greater than the changes going from P3 to Pentium M. Similarly, the K8 is just a souped-up K7, though that still isn't nearly as old.
      Pentium Pro: the architecture that won't die.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  10. Naming schemes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You know, it's just struck me as being somewhat odd that Intel is naming it's chips Pentium 2, 3 and 4. Does anyone have any ideas why they stopped going from 486, 586 to 686 etc. I seem to remember the Pentium being associated with the 586s, and this name has stuck.

    1. Re:Naming schemes by __aatgod8309 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I believe it was because they found they couldn't claim IP rights to numbers such as '486' in order to prevent other manufacturers releasing products with the same name.

    2. Re:Naming schemes by CaptainHurricane · · Score: 1

      Aye, the "Pent" in Pentium was intended to denote 5 (Penta), as in 586, but for some reason they've kept with that handle since I was in Middle School (for perspective on that, I'm out of Uni now).

  11. ExTREmE! by TimeTraveler1884 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Intel also added the 3.73-GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
    The processor that all rock-climbing, skydiving, snowboarding, chick-magnet, adrenaline-junkies use.

    ...Oh wait, this is ./
    1. Re:ExTREmE! by Excen · · Score: 3, Funny

      I WOULD be a chick magnet, but living in my parents' basement makes it tough.

      That being said, I downhill ski so I really should have this.

      --
      "No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
    2. Re:ExTREmE! by Fjornir · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I would guess that if someone took a poll of slashdot readers and the general population they would find a statistically significant correlation between reading slashdot and participation in such "thrill-seeker" activities such as rock-climbing and skydiving.

      --
      I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
  12. Pentium M and Celeron, 64 bit by boingyzain · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Inquirer is reporting that Intel will counter the AMD Turion 64 Mobile Processor with a Pentium M Extreme Edition. It is an alphabet soup of potential Intel Pentium M releases and you'll probably have to read it through twice or thrice to understand it all, but an interesting and inciteful read nonetheless.

    There's another interesting article about the future of 64-bit as it relates to Intel here.

    And of course, we can't forget our beloved Celeron.

    1. Re:Pentium M and Celeron, 64 bit by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      The current Pentium M, Dothan is already pretty much an "Extreme Edition" considering that many of them have 2MB of cache. Not that this amount of cache helps typical x86 desktop/mobile use, the usual benchmarks I see show only a slight speed increase (low single digit) over the 1MB cache versions of the same chip. I think it is possible to get a better benefit if you recompile everything for it and the compiler knows about the L3 cache.

    2. Re:Pentium M and Celeron, 64 bit by onya · · Score: 1

      > an interesting and inciteful read nonetheless.

      I think you mean insightful.

    3. Re:Pentium M and Celeron, 64 bit by slcdb · · Score: 1

      I just figured that the pun was intended.

      The alphabet soup thing makes me want to incite a riot.

      --
      Despite what EULAs say, most software is sold, not licensed.
  13. Yeah, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are they really AMD-compatible?

    1. Re:Yeah, but... by SpookyFish · · Score: 1

      LOL, That is classic.

    2. Re:Yeah, but... by EulerX07 · · Score: 1

      Great one man. I'll make sure that from now on when I build system for people to mention that the intel cpus are more expensive and may not be AMD compatible. Excellent.

    3. Re:Yeah, but... by slcdb · · Score: 1

      Nice. Somebody give this man the comment-of-the-day award.

      --
      Despite what EULAs say, most software is sold, not licensed.
  14. CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ever notice how Apple was doing really poorly when they were providing dozens of different system configurations on a fairly large handful of Mac platforms, and were suffering because of it?

    The problem was that the consumers simply didn't understand which computer most favorably matched their criteria.

    I see the same thing here with Intel's lineup. What is what? Why is this M? Why is that Centrino? WTF does "Extreme" mean in relation to a CPU?

    It wasn't until Steve Jobs was able to cut through the bullshit and bring the Mac lineup back to 2 basic consumer platforms that Apple was able to enjoy the benefits of the Apple brand. Until Steve came back, it was just another PC outfit. Now, with Jobs at the helm, and through his seemingly infinite ability to grasp consumer wants and needs, Apple is enjoying a resurgence in popularity and relevance.

    Without someone with a grand vision like Steve Jobs, Intel is going to continue suffering through doldrums trying to guide the market with its "alphabet soup" (which you so very astutely coined) without actually listening to the consumers.

    1. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by NoodleSlayer · · Score: 1

      What Steve Jobs did had nothing to do with processors, at all. In case you didn't notice Apple doesn't make any CPUs, currently that's all done by IBM.

      And last I checked it wasn't IBM that's taking marketshare away from Intel, not yet at least.

    2. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by WasterDave · · Score: 5, Informative

      WTF does "Extreme" mean in relation to a CPU?

      "EE" stands for "Extremely Expensive", "Centrino" means "doesn't suck on laptops". Other than that, I also am now completely lost as to what Intel's lineup actually is. Their marketing department are fucked.

      Dave

      --
      I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
    3. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by skogs · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I definitely agree with your assumptions. While I don't know enough about the apple business history, I can definitely agree with the idea that intel is losing relevancy and marketability.

      For years intel has owned the market mostly because of its slick sales and marketing department. Their commercials are wonderful, and make people honestly feel they are purchasing something super cool, super powerful, and super relevant - all while completely ignoring the nerdy specs. Why would anybody want to know Why something is strong/fast/meaningful?

      These folks have managed to sell themselves to most people out there, but eventually they are going to have to put up numbers. Like car commercials...what size engine does it have? How many horsepower? How many seats? 4 wheel drive? All these things are pretty important and in the end sell cars. Specs sell chips too, but only the 'nerdy' are deemed able to understand these things so intel leaves that information out.

      Now their advertising and chip naming is becoming on the level of nerdy. Who the F$@! knows what the Celeron D, P4, P4EE, P4-64, Centrino, Pentium -M, Pentium dual core, Pentium[next new thing to sell chips]? Honestly if they just put a few specs out there to differentiate chips it would make life a little easier.

      What is a P4?

      Which of the dozen incarnations of compatible chips do you mean? Prescott, etc...

      What is hyperthreading?

      What is a dual core?

      Why does my 333Mhz RAM beat the S%@# out of my uber-expensive 800Mhz RAMBUS?

      Why this? Why that?

      Why can't people understand what they are purchasing now? Simplify people. Simplify. Or lose more market share to the ACTUAL superior product that AMD manufactures.

      --
      Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
    4. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by mjh49746 · · Score: 1

      Maybe they need a Pentium 5? (ducking)

    5. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by mike5904 · · Score: 1

      I felt exactly the same way when looking at graphics cards recently. ATi's lineup currently consists of the (Radeon) X300, X300 SE, X600 Pro, X600 XT, X700 Pro, X800, X800 Pro, X800 SE, X800 XL, X800 XT, X850 XT PE, X850 XT, and the X850 Pro (that's assuming the 9xxx cards are no longer being produced). These are just the consumer-level, desktop graphics chipsets. Furthermore, there are about 10 different companies selling cards with each one of these chipsets, so that's around 130 different cards you can buy, featuring one company's chipset, for the desktop, intended for the home enthusiast market. There are a few differences between the cards, mostly in speed and memory size, with some slighly varying features, but there is no way they could justify this many models.

    6. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by snuf23 · · Score: 1

      "Centrino" means "doesn't suck on laptops"

      Actually Centrino is the name for using the Pentium M AND the Intel wireless chipset. And I kind of think the wireless chipset is a bit wonky.

      --
      Sometimes my arms bend back.
    7. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1

      Or they could just give up on avoiding the anti-satanic crowd, and go with "Hexium." Or risk sounding really crappy and go with "Septium."

      Octium might work, though.

    8. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by perbu · · Score: 1
      But Intel does not make computers. They make processors. Its not their job to create a strong computer brand - thats IBM, HP and Dells job.

      Intel makes parts for computer producers - and they might actually have the brain-power to handle Intels alphabet soup.

    9. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by bigberk · · Score: 3, Funny
      I see the same thing here with Intel's lineup. What is what? Why is this M? Why is that Centrino? WTF does "Extreme" mean in relation to a CPU?
      How DARE you question the wisdom, experience, and insight offered by managers and marketing departments! These people have spent years of their lives studying their trade so that they can learn how to make your life better. Do you not thank them? Do you not give them the credit they deserve? Oh, marketers everywhere, do not listen to these ingrates, you have made America great and we God bless you for it!
    10. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by nametaken · · Score: 1

      Dear lord, that's insane. I'm so glad I'm not in the market for a vid card right now. ;)

    11. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      You are not Joe. You want to know what the designations mean while Joe is just confused by 'nerdy' specs and therefore takes advice from the 'more educated' retail dude. Big mistake.

      AFAIK:
      P4 is the bog standard current Intel chip (32 bit)
      Prescott is a P4 cheap and nasty P4 with even higher clock speeds with lower power/cycle (with the innevitable exceptions). Similar to the difference between P3 and P4, only a smaller difference.
      Celeron is a cheap P4 with stripped down cache
      Centrino, same as Pentium M is a low power version with more power/cycle and lower clock speeds (similar to AMD chips) that has low power draw and is good for laptops (the only good thing to come from the Intel line-up in recent years imho, only it wasn't really designed by Intel hee, hee)
      P4EE is a P4 with a ridiculously large cache (and high price) to get more from a basically crap design, so that they can even compete with AMD on the top end of comparitive benchmark tests.
      P4-64 has an extended memory addressing range ie., can take more RAM. Irrelevant and slower for the vast majority of users
      Dual core is next-gen tech that AMD and Intel are working on that will be equivalent to dual-processor systems that have been around for ages. Not much more bang for much more buck.
      Hyperthreading is psuedo-dual core on one chip, very good for repetitive operations (like video encoding), but no good for unpredictable code (almost everything else)
      You bought proprietory tech (RAMBUS). Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! ... :)

      Hope this helps de-muddy the marketing waters.

    12. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      But the Megahertz aren't what's important anymore.

      (For Example: AMD)

      I have an Athlon 64 3400+ clocked at 2.2ghz, and it blows away my friend's 2x as expensive p4 3.2ghz.

      The idea that Megahertz matters still is just another Intel Marketing plan that backfired on them in the end.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    13. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by youknowmewell · · Score: 1

      Honestly if they just put a few specs out there to differentiate chips it would make life a little easier.

      Ya, let's use something everybody can understand...

      How about clock speed?

    14. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 1

      The idea that Megahertz matters still is just another Intel Marketing plan that backfired on them in the end.

      Well, that's the revisionist view anyway. Megahertz mattered for a long time (~20 years), in that, with few exceptions, you could reliably compare x86 CPUs based on clock speed. This stopped being the case a few years ago, when the x86 hit a clockspeed wall.

    15. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 1

      I definitely agree with your assumptions. While I don't know enough about the apple business history, I can definitely agree with the idea that intel is losing relevancy and marketability.

      Except that Intel still owns the vast majority of the CPU market in the PC world. All the CPU mumbo-jumbo may not hurt them, because no one cares about CPUs any more. Well, that's not completely true. "Pentium-M" means "longer battery life in a notebook." All the rest of it is just noise. But again, it doesn't matter. All CPUs are fast these days.

    16. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by ivan256 · · Score: 1

      "Centrino" actually means "we suckered you into buying more than just our over priced processor; you bought our overpriced networking chipset too".

      It's the intel equivalent to "would you like the rust protection with that?"

    17. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      Now, with Jobs at the helm, and through his seemingly infinite ability to grasp consumer wants and needs, Apple is enjoying a resurgence in popularity and relevance.

      Yep, Steve Jobs definitely has his finger fimly on the pulse of 3% of the computer-buying public!

    18. Re:CPU alphabet soup and the demise of Apple by toddestan · · Score: 1

      ATI used to have a fairly reasonable system where the first number represented the DirectX version the card supported.

      7xxx = DirectX 7
      8xxx = DirectX 8
      9xxx = DirectX 9
      Xxxx = DirectX 10?

      But then they had to mess that up too. Like the Radeon 9200 is DirectX 8. Argh.

  15. Re:64-bit? by boingyzain · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sure, there is loads of programs that make use of the full 64 bits. Several vendors offer 64bit flavours of their distributions, such as Fedora, Ubuntu, Gentoo, and Suse.

    The performance gain is found in how the chip itself works. 64-bits breaks the 4GB memory process limits of 32-bits. In 32-bits, a single process can access 2^(32) bytes -> 4 GB of linear memory. In 64 bits, you can therocally access 2^(64) bytes. Pratically, in Windows x64, a process is limited to 16 TB of memory. Plus, there's extra registers that a program can use.

  16. Late last year... by sp1nm0nkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I talked to some of the few people who were testing these. Apparently it couldn't keep linux running for more than 4 minutes. Lets hope Intel was able to fix that "issue"

    1. Re:Late last year... by TheBurningDog · · Score: 1

      Or just get Microsoft endorsement and call it a feature.

    2. Re:Late last year... by TravisWatkins · · Score: 1

      They're borrowing things from Microsoft now. It isn't done until linux won't run.

      --

      "But I'm still right here, giving blood and keeping faith. And I'm still right here."
    3. Re:Late last year... by fitten · · Score: 1

      Good thing it isn't "late last year" then. There have been a number of benchmarks already run on the Intel 64-bit parts.

      (Makes me thing of someone at Intel saying: Gaze now upon this fully functional 64-bit processor) :)

  17. It's Rodney (I get no respect) Dangerfield ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    Methink these new pentium64s should pay tribute to Rodney Dangerfield, coz they get no respect from nobody either.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  18. Yay. by gt_swagger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now it's time for game makers to get with the game [dum dum TISHHHH]. I'm tired of seeing 32 bits of my AMD 64 wasted every time I game, and now that every major player has 64 bit processors succeeding 32 bit, they need to get with the program and stop wasting bits.

    --
    The Peanut Gallery, Ubergeek, Biblically Sober
    NCAAbbs.com: Thousands of fans, Hundreds of teams, Just one place
    1. Re:Yay. by kayen_telva · · Score: 1

      then why did you buy into the technology before it was mature ? not trolling; I understand what you are saying, but by the time 64bit apps become normal, your going to want to upgrade to a faster 64 bit chip anyway. those of us that have a little more patience take the savings to the bank.

    2. Re:Yay. by Buelldozer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thunk thunk thunk...

      (That's the sound of 32 bit code on a 64 bit processor...or was that 16 bit code on a 32...I forget...)

    3. Re:Yay. by MatthewNewberg · · Score: 1

      The extra bits are not really a big issues yet.

      Why(Assuming you are a home user)?

      Fews apps can gain much from using over 2 gigs of memory currently, I know there are special cases, but really I dont think it is a issue (yet).

      Most apps dont gain from the extra processing of using 64-bit from 32 bit math.When are you really maxing out an INT, or needing to use a double?

      So what do you really gain from having a 64bit processor?

      Extra Registers are key to the performance gains with 64 bit with most applications. They should speed up everything by having so many extra places to place variables.

      The problem being that in order to use extra registers you need to recompile the application. Hopefully all those developers are out there doing that.

    4. Re:Yay. by gt_swagger · · Score: 1

      Because with 64-bit linux I still feel the extra vroom, expecially in areas like MySQL [for MythTV] and I get the full benefit of the new instruction sets on said AMD chips [SSE3, among the many others.] Yay for Gentoo and 64-bit! Boo for a nightmare to get nvidia drivers working ;)

      --
      The Peanut Gallery, Ubergeek, Biblically Sober
      NCAAbbs.com: Thousands of fans, Hundreds of teams, Just one place
    5. Re:Yay. by gt_swagger · · Score: 1

      There is a large noticeable difference between my previous system [Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz / 1.5 GB DDR] and my current [AMD 64 3500+ [90nm] / 1.5 GB DDR]. I multitask hardcore style... always have at least 10 ...15 things running, with MythTV, Folding@Home, and BOINC being among the larger of the system hogs.

      --
      The Peanut Gallery, Ubergeek, Biblically Sober
      NCAAbbs.com: Thousands of fans, Hundreds of teams, Just one place
    6. Re:Yay. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1
      I immediately imagined a sticker on the game box:

      "No bits were wasted during the creation of this game"

    7. Re:Yay. by andreyw · · Score: 1

      But is this flat thunking or generic thunking? ;-)

    8. Re:Yay. by Buelldozer · · Score: 1

      Round robin thunking actually, simple load balancing for dual core processors. :-D

    9. Re:Yay. by G-funk · · Score: 1

      Jebus. The supposed techno-elite of slashdot.

      The difference isn't more ram and bigger ints. X86 processors have been able to access >4gb for a very long time now, and even MMX1 was capable of 128bit math. The difference is that in 64bit mode, besides the general advantages (and all games could use better & faster math), it's that you get an assload more registers, the tiny little pockets of ram that sit right in the cpu core and are super-fast.

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money!
    10. Re:Yay. by MatthewNewberg · · Score: 1

      The operating system can access more then 2 GBs ram, but the applications cannot easily do the same. Personally I haven't tried to go over 2 GBs, but I have seen programs (helping friends), that have run into the 2GB limit. Another trick I failed to mention is the fact you can now do tricks with mapping files into virtual ram(since the address space is so big), and doing random access on them just as ram. Since the address space is so large, you can put whatever you want into the virtual memory and let the operating system deal with wether or not it should be placed in ram. I just wonder how much of a speed up this could mean for loading files, and how much easier it would be to program without all those damn file loaders.

    11. Re:Yay. by G-funk · · Score: 1

      The memory-mapped IO i'd forgotten about, you're right. Not on the application memory size though, that's simply up to the OS whether it exposes 4k (default) or 2/4mb pages to the applications.

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money!
    12. Re:Yay. by Frumious+Wombat · · Score: 1

      Just add "-m64" to the compiler flags, and you'll have NetHack64 running in no time flat!

      More seriously, you could always run "Folding@Home" in the background continuously, as it's based off Gromacs, which is 64-bit capable. Get some work out of those BTUs.

      --
      the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
  19. Re:64-bit? by jimi+the+hippie · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but I'm still waiting for Valve to release a version of HL2 that supports 64 bits. IIRC UT2k3 was released with 64bit support over a year ago, what is taking these guys so long.

  20. backwards compatible? by vandit2k6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Will this be backwards compatible or support 32bit software.

    --
    Its nice to be important but its more important to be nice
    1. Re:backwards compatible? by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      a) Yes. You can boot a 32-bit OS in 32-bit mode on x86-64 chips.

      b) Qualified yes. You can run 32-bit programs on a 64-bit OS on x86-64 chips, provided that the OS supports this. Some do, some don't.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
  21. Re:AMD is the worst. by ecko3437 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Amen. This x000+ crap has got to stop. I'm t hinking we need some sort of ISO standard for clock speed, something we can compare PowerPCs, AMDs, Intels, and the like together without having to pull out a calculator and Google for benchmark tests. However it wont happen due to some stupid reason or other.

    --
    -Eric Smith
  22. First enhancement since the 386! by 0xdeaddead · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wow its about freaking time! Consumer 64bit computing here we come! On a side note, who bets that these chips will be as defective as the first 386's (double sigma anyone?)

  23. Re:AMD is the worst. by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 1

    erm.. are you an idiot?

    4000+ = 4 gig+ in Intel numbers, the system is simple as hell. AMD processors get more power out of a smaller clock speed because they do more cycles per second.

    So no, they just label their products to compare them to the Intel line easily.

    --
    I like muppets.
  24. Intel the Trendsetter by Megaslow · · Score: 4, Informative
    Nearly 18 months after rival AMD released its 64-bit processors, Intel quietly added its first 64-bit Pentium 4 microprocessors to the market

    Wow, and only 10 years after Sun's UltraSPARC, 13 years after the DEC Alpha, and 14 years after the MIPS R4000

    1. Re:Intel the Trendsetter by mike5904 · · Score: 1

      And 9 years after the Nintendo 64!

      (Because we all know that's where 64 bit technology really took off)

    2. Re:Intel the Trendsetter by Dave9876 · · Score: 1

      That used an R4000 derivative (R4300 I think).

    3. Re:Intel the Trendsetter by bigberk · · Score: 1

      Here's another problem that is going to take people years to grasp, but Intel's approach to multiprocessing is all wrong. Intel's intellectual property makes them experts in single threads of execution. Critics argue that Intel's approach to multiprocessing (e.g. hyperthreading) is all wrong, more reminiscent of their older architectures. As a result the performance will lag far behind, say, Sun's upcoming Niagara

    4. Re:Intel the Trendsetter by master_p · · Score: 1

      If it wasn't for Intel, Microsoft and the dreadful PCs, we would all be having 64-bit Alphas a long time ago. I also have to point my arrows at IBM on this, and Compaq for making a compatible of IBM PC. We computer consumers have sufferred low quality consumer computer products for the last 20 years.

    5. Re:Intel the Trendsetter by runderwo · · Score: 1

      The N64's software is all 32-bit except for the coprocessor (but almost everyone has a FPU capable of double precision or better now). The official devkit uses ILP=32. 64-bit pointers would make little sense since the machine's memory map is entirely contained within a 32-bit address space. I guess 64-bit integers were either not useful for typical applications, or the toolchains back then didn't support them. SGI, for instance, didn't have an ABI until 'n32' that both supports 32-bit pointers and 64-bit (mips3) instructions.

    6. Re:Intel the Trendsetter by fbg111 · · Score: 1

      Wow, and only 10 years after Sun's UltraSPARC, 13 years after the DEC Alpha, and 14 years after the MIPS R4000

      But only 4 years after the Itanium!

      Er, wait...

      --
      Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
  25. I only have enought plutonium for one shot! by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Funny
    * oops *, I mean, you insensitive clod!.

    Yes, I have or something simulations to run!

    (is it ok to use * and HTML emphasis?)

    What's the plural of emphasis?

    Shut up. OK.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    1. Re:I only have enought plutonium for one shot! by mr_walrus · · Score: 2, Funny

      >What's the plural of emphasis?

      emphysema

      -ken wheezed out breathlessly

    2. Re:I only have enought plutonium for one shot! by Dun+Malg · · Score: 2, Informative
      What's the plural of emphasis?

      Emphases

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
  26. Socket 478 by Dalroth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Question... do any of these processors come in the socket 478 form factor, or is intel forcing us to upgrade our motherboards yet again? If I have to buy a new mother board, I might as well go AMD this time around!!

    Bryan

    1. Re:Socket 478 by HoeDing · · Score: 2

      You won't get anywhere with these on a 865 chipset even if they existed ;)

    2. Re:Socket 478 by Finkbug · · Score: 1

      "Question... do any of these processors come in the socket 478 form factor, or is intel forcing us to upgrade our motherboards yet again? If I have to buy a new mother board, I might as well go AMD this time around!!"

      Or, um, simply wait a bit and not buy at the top of the price curve.

      --
      Feeling so good natured I could drool
    3. Re:Socket 478 by kesuki · · Score: 1

      go buy a $1000 system at [insert online or brick-and-mortar computer retailer]
      Dude, you're telling /. to shop at a place like Worst buy? CompLusa? Circuit Shitty? or Fried? Spare me, I build custom systems hand selecting every component, Hell I even pull out the dremel and custom mod. I break out the front door paints and paint custom art (with stencils, because I suck.)
      The sad thing is I built a PC in 2002 that blows rings around your 2003 '$1,000' complusa PC and It only cost $950, And that was with a $400 graphic card.
      And warrenty? the warrenty ran out this year on everything, but the graphic card, and the power supply. Everything had a 3-5 year warrenty. Nothing was shoddy, nothing burned out.
      You buy your POS from the Worst Buy, I'll be using froogle and scam-watch (er price watch) to find the best prices I can, on the best parts I can get
      to build a better system than can be found on any shelf in any store period.

  27. Re:AMD is the worst. by mhesseltine · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Amen. This x000+ crap has got to stop. I'm thinking we need some sort of ISO standard for clock speed, something we can compare PowerPCs, AMDs, Intels, and the like together without having to pull out a calculator and Google for benchmark tests. However it wont happen due to some stupid reason or other.

    If you can get all the manufacturers to agree, comparing systems based on FLOPS would be effective, because it would remove the irrelevant clock speed argument, and thus allow you to compare how much work can be done in a time frame by the processor.

    Unfortunately, I doubt you'd get the manufacturers to agree to it, since it would make too much sense and allow an easy and unbiased comparison between their products.

    --
    Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
  28. Re:AMD is the worst. by Grey_14 · · Score: 1

    That "Stupid Reason" is that clock speed is not everything, Thank you for proving to Intel that it's marketting is worth it though, There are a lot of other factors regarding chip speed.

  29. Re:AMD is the worst. by mabinogi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > I'm thinking we need some sort of ISO standard for clock speed
    I know!
    We could call it "Hertz" (abbreviated as Hz), as a measurement of frequency where one Hertz means one cycle per second.
    When used in relation to CPUs it could be prefixed with the SI multipliers G or M for Giga and Mega, and be used to refer to the speed of the internal clock by which the CPU synchronises its instructions. It however will say nothing about how many instructions happen in a cycle, or what those instructions actually do.

    So I'm guessing you don't want a standard for clock speed, you want a standard for performance.

    But regardless, if you make your entire purchasing decision off the numbers on the box (no matter what they mean) then you deserve whatever you get.

    --
    Advanced users are users too!
  30. Donate it!!! by vwjeff · · Score: 2, Informative

    Donate anything 300mhz or above to your local school district. I am a computer tech for my local district and we need all the help we can get.

    1. Re:Donate it!!! by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 5, Informative

      ASK before you donate. My district won't support anything older than P-III, and we aren't too keen on donated hardware as it requires custom imaging.

      Make sure that your hardware is in good condition, and that the district actually needs systems.

      My district, for example, already has over 500 decomissioned Pentium-II (450MHz) systems. There are only so many places that we can put computers (and so many ports on the network), so old hardware builds up as it is replaced with newer hardware. We try to reuse hardware wherever possible (computer lab systems might become lookup terminals, for instance), but eventually we have to pay to get the old systems recycled.

      Note, however, that this varies dramatically by district. My district donates over 250 systems to our neighboring district every year because they don't have the budget for much new hardware. They are happy to get good-condition P-IIs, and we're happy that they aren't ending up in landfills.

      The key is to know what is needed and where.

      Also, don't purchase a computer to donate without first consulting the district. My district, for example, purchases only one model each year (last year it was the HP D530 small-form-factor). This simplifies management and deployment. By purchasing the same model, you can save the district a lot of time for years to come.

    2. Re:Donate it!!! by cptgrudge · · Score: 4, Informative
      MOD PARENT UP.

      At my previous job, a K-12 District, we *hated* computer donations. They don't conform to a standard hard drive image, so they require special attention. They have no warranty, and the techs to work on them as they die end up costing more than a new machine would have.

      Management of dissimilar hardware costs a lot.

      Now, if your District isn't to that level of management, they'll probably be pleased with anything they can get. When I started there, we were ecstatic to get extra hardware. But as time wore on, we spent the majority of our time on these donations. When I left, the District had switched over to a completely Leased solution. It ends up much easier to manage from a budget perspective if there is a fixed amount spent on hardware every year in the lease.

      I agree with the poster above:
      Ask your District if they want them. If you go over to drop them off, they may just refuse them, and now you've packed up all those old machines for nothing.

      --
      Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
    3. Re:Donate it!!! by MatthewNewberg · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've done my share of working as a tech on random old hardware in a position where I could not easily refuse. I would not force that upon any person working in a already bad enough position (I am guessing children can be hard on computers). Some of my horror stories cannot be easily described but you should consider a 486 with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (and a random no name nic of the same age) was the least of my worries. I am not donating anything unless I know the person actually has a use for it, and knows how to use it/fix it.

    4. Re:Donate it!!! by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 2, Informative

      I worked in the IT department of my local High School, and we had PILES of p2 233s sitting on top of a pile of Pentiums. From the pile of about 45 computers, we were able to get about 15 computers that worked. And we had to buy hard drives for them. The total cost for the hard drives was more than it would have cost to get 10~ year or two old computers.

      Oh, and don't donate monitors. That pissed us off. People would leave monitors in the office for us, and we had about 50. It costs money to get them disposed of properly, so we just piled them up in a closet. ASK before you donate anything.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    5. Re:Donate it!!! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I work for a community college and we strip hard drives and usually memory out of systems (celeron and P2) as quick as we can, and surplus them. The school has a surplus sale every year or two. This last time I scored a LCD projector for $5 (old sharp thing big as a small suitcase but it's got focus and zoom) and a dual trace 100MHz Tek O-Scope for $1. In other words, the school is giving this shit away, but they want enough money to pay for the salaries of the people who handle taking your money - their purpose is actually to tell you that once you take it home it stays there, and never ever comes back to the campus. The purpose is to get rid of that crap.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Donate it!!! by ivan256 · · Score: 1

      Look for student groups to donate your old computers to if you're looking to give computers. The school's IT staff probably won't want the machines, but students that want to use a computer for things the IT staff won't let them/doesn't have the budget for might want them.

      Schools typically have computers for a particular purpose. There may be a lab, or internet terminals, or whatnot. Some student groups may want their own system for things that aren't officially supported though (for example, a system where the default repair policy isn't to image the drive). What your paid IT staffer will turn away, your local computer club member/theater tech/school paper writer may love to have.

  31. Re:AMD is the worst. by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 1

    The AMD numbers are also useful because they cover more of the factors that affect performance. AMD often sells CPUs with the exact same clock speed but different XXXX+ numbers. The performance difference in that case is due to different cache sizes or CPU architecture generations, but you can get a rough guess for their relative performance just by glancing at the model number. You don't need to be familiar with the details of their entire product line just to get a feel for what each chip will do.

  32. Re:AMD is the worst. by doormat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd mod ya down if I werent replying, but not because you're pro intel, just because your logic is flawed.

    Its called marketing, you do whatever you can thats legal to get people to buy your product.

    If a dumbass consumer things 4000+ is 4000MHz, especially when there is a asterik saying that the processor actually runs at 2.4GHz, then they're probably the ones who dont understand the 9/10ths of a cent at the end of all gas prices. Intel made processors all about MHZ and thats what AMD has to compete on. The processor ratings are somewhat accurate (varies depending on benchmark).

    And FWIW, a 4000+ does outperform a P4-2.8GHz.

    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
  33. Re:AMD is the worst. by doormat · · Score: 1

    Its VERY hard. Want to standarize on Spec_INT? Intel has optimized their compiler to perform better (that it actually can in real world conditions) in the SPEC benchmarks.

    Flops (floating point Ops per second) arent that good because while a processor can process so many Flops per second, stuff like branch mispredicts and caching strategy can affect operation throughput and deliver a lower than theoretical FLOPS figure.

    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
  34. Fine, but what we *really* want to know is... by Lisandro · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... how many large bedrooms can you heat with it?

  35. OMG! Daddy? by mjh49746 · · Score: 1
    Remember me, daddy? I'm your favorite son-of-a-bitch!

    And I thought I was just a low down dirty bastard.

  36. Actually, Intel SHOULD call it "Seinfeld"! by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 1, Funny

    At least according to what I have learned from the Simpsons.

    Patty: The easiest way to be popular is to leech off the popularity of others.
    Selma: So we propose changing our name from "Springfield" to "Seinfeld".

    Intel can start making processors with names that make sense!

    Pentium D Costanza!
    - This is our newest budget-aimed processor which will deliver today's technology in ways you can't imagine. The Costanza will answer your multimedia needs thru experimentations that one would never dare to even think of.

    Pentium D Kramer
    - We are very proud of this processor. The main audience are the gamers in general who don't want to spend too much money on something as radical as this. The Pentium Kramer will deliver spontaneous performance boosts thru applications and make random noises whenever the cpu is overheating.

    Pentium D Steinbrenner
    - Our flagship product, the Pentium D Steinbrenner will deliver performance beyond your expectations. Not only does it come with 2MB of Cache but it also comes with a special software that has been added into the cpu which will warn the user when he's about to click on something that may be a virus. We call this feature the 'Steinbrenner Alarm':

    STEINBRENNER ALARM: Of course. Of course you can do it. Things get done all the time, I understand. Don't worry, your job'll be waiting for you when I say so! Get better user 'GEORGE'! Get betteeeeeeeeeer!!!!!!!

    Yeah.... now I so want one!

  37. Failed 64-Intel Attempt by Visaris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think your right. I have seen benchmarks on the AMDzone forums which show that while AMD gets a speed boost (on average) from 64-bit mode, Intel takes a performance hit (again, on average) when in 64-bit mode.

    Intel is just trying to be compatible with AMD64. They won't have a serious product for another quarter or two (or three).

    --

    I am a viral sig. Please help me spread.
    1. Re:Failed 64-Intel Attempt by Fjornir · · Score: 1

      Do you mind pointing at the actual benchmarks in question so people in the know can examine the methodology?

      --
      I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
  38. There's plenty of uses by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Our antenna design group is eyeing the 64-bit products with intrest. Their simulations always use up all the memory in their systems. Well right now, only option for 64-bit with their software is Sun hardware. That's really expensive and it doesn't tend to perform as well (the chips are more server oriented, less vector math). So they are quite interested in a 64-bit Intel or AMD system with 64-bit Windows. If they could get like 8+GB of RAM, they'd be interested. $1000 for a chip is fine, that's downright cheap compared to the Sun solutions.

    1. Re:There's plenty of uses by cot · · Score: 1

      Is your group doing antenna design with a commercial product like IE3D or is it homegrown software?

      I'm just curious as to how readily available commercial EM software that takes advantage of AMD64 is.

      --

    2. Re:There's plenty of uses by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

      HFSS is what they use, it's commercial and veeeeeery expensive. Near as I know, no 64-bit x86 support on it now. They are going to develop it, allegedly, when 64-bit Windows hits the streets.

    3. Re:There's plenty of uses by calidoscope · · Score: 1

      If you're using HFSS, then the price of a SB2500 can't be that bad by comparison - you can get 2GB DIMM's for it, so 16 GB is possible in a two processor system. The latest 2500's are shipping with the 1.6GHz US-IIIi.

      --
      A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
    4. Re:There's plenty of uses by cot · · Score: 1

      HFSS is fine and all when you need three dimensional simulation but it's SLOOOOOOW so no wonder they're hitting the limitations of the machines. 64 bit XP beta has been out for a while, so if they were really on the ball they'd have a build by now.

      Make your antennas planar and its a lot easier :)

      --

  39. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by fork420 · · Score: 1

    If you really want them buy a 64-bit system *and* you want them to leave you alone, then tell your family member to buy an iMac. Advise them that it's different from what you use, but that you've heard that it's easy and powerful (which is true). Since you're telling them that it's not what you use, they know not to bother you with their computer problems.

    Just a suggestion from another crazy mac user.

  40. Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by sl3xd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just a question...

    So many versions of the Pentium4.

    So many cores. So many variations. So many significant architectural differences.

    Seriously... when it it enough to be the Pentium5? I seriously doubt there is as much difference between the Pentium-3 and the IV (original P4) as there is between ANY other P4 cpu and this one.

    Seriously... what's the deal?

    Other than the 5-for-$5 jokes (Pentium 5 being a rather redundant name, after all...)

    --
    -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    1. Re:Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by Glowing+Fish · · Score: 1

      I spend a good amount of time dealing with hardware, so I am not totally ignorant of these things, but I really don't know what the difference is between any of the Pentium line, internally. I know that the Pentium was socket based, and most Pentium-IIs and IIIs were slot based, and the P-IV is back to being socket based. And the Pentium Pro was (physically) the largest chip that Intel made.
      But I don't really know what the internal differences are, and I think in many cases they might be exaggerated. I remember seeing a "User Friendly" strip where they showed the P-III assembly line...and it was a machine etching an extra line after Pentium-II.

      --
      Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
    2. Re:Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by Fjornir · · Score: 1

      It's a guy in a "bunny suit" (the 'labcoat' dancers from the intel commercials of the late 90s) with a bottle of white-out. I remembered this one for some reason and a quick search on their site brought it up. here

      --
      I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
    3. Re:Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by ameoba · · Score: 4, Informative

      Pentium Pro, Pentium II and Pentium III have all been based on the same core. The PPro was ridiculously expensive to produce at the time because of the on-die cache so they moved to the P2 with separate cache chips on the board the slotted chip was on. As they got the process down, they went to the P3 which returned to the on-die cache. Orginally the P3 was slotted for compatability reasons but they went to a socketed chip for cost purposes later in production.

      The P4 was a completely different architecture (NetBurst) which was intended, from the ground up, to hit high clock speeds, without concern for actual performance (granted, once they hit 800MHz FSBs, the P4 finally started showing its stuff). This was one of the biggest mass-market counterexamples to the MHz Myth, with first generation P4s (1.5-1.7GHz) getting solidly beaten by cheaper, lower-powered, lower-clocked P3s (1GHz-ish).

      Granted, the P4 wasn't a complete waste - there were some very good technological advancements in it. The Pentium-M is essntially a P3ish core that has some of the enhancements from the P4 (quad-pumped bus, SSE2, awesome branch prediction) added to it but retained the P3's lower power consumption & clock-efficiency. Not to mention that a 3+GHz P4 with an 800MHz FSB is going to be an absolute monster at number crunching, given software that properly uses the SSE/SSE2 (vector math) extensions.

      For the most part, however, the launch of the P4 was a disappointing event that helped AMD grab mindshare & marketshare in the CPU market, particularly with those who actually care about more than cute commericials and buying the cheapest thing Dell is pushing out the door.

      --
      my sig's at the bottom of the page.
    4. Re:Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Intel already has an x86 line newer and better than P4. It's called Pentium M.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    5. Re:Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      The PPro was ridiculously expensive to produce at the time because of the on-die cache so they moved to the P2 with separate cache chips on the board the slotted chip was on.

      Minor correction:

      The Pentium Pro had the cache on a separate die in the same package. The problem was that it was not possible to test either chip until they were both in the package, so if either failed they both had to be thrown away. With the Pentium II, they were in separate (independently testable) chip packages soldered onto a daughter board.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Ever wonder if there will be a Pentium-5? by smithmc · · Score: 1

      The PPro was ridiculously expensive to produce at the time because of the on-die cache

      Minor quibble, but - the PPro's cache was not on-die; the cache and the core were on separate dice, combined in a multi-chip module. It wasn't until the "Mendocino" PII-based Celeron that they started putting cache and core on the same die - and boy, did it show performance-wise.

      --
      Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
  41. those numbers mean nothing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    65C? Under what conditions? What heat sink? Where is it measured?

    Most important is the power dissapation figure. That shows how much energy has to be dumped by the cooling solution.

  42. Are you guys nuts? by radiojock · · Score: 1

    Look, just because it says 64bit, doesn't mean it has a 64bit instruction set!. the EM64T stands for Enhanced Memory Technology. It allows you to access more than 4GB of ram, that's pretty much the end of it. IF you want a 64bit machine, I suggest you go get a Sun, a Power5(not the wimped out G5 machines) or a Mips proc. For those of you on a budget who want true 64bit stuff, go and get a DEC chip...

    1. Re:Are you guys nuts? by fitten · · Score: 1

      Ummm... why do you think that the Opterons and the new Intel parts aren't 64-bit?

  43. Re:AMD is the worst. by fiter · · Score: 1

    It was my understanding that the AMD processor numbers were based off a 1Ghz(?) K7.

  44. Problem Intel or Linux? by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    I talked to some of the few people who were testing these. Apparently it couldn't keep linux running for more than 4 minutes. Lets hope Intel was able to fix that "issue"

    Assuming of course the issue is Intel's not Linux's. Yeah, heresy, sorry about that.

    Actually I should also say assuming the hardware is not flaky. How's the 64-bit WinNT beta run on that system?

    1. Re:Problem Intel or Linux? by pla · · Score: 1

      Assuming of course the issue is Intel's not Linux's. Yeah, heresy, sorry about that.

      Since Intel only released this to try to play catch-up with AMD, if Linux runs stably on an Athlon64 but not Intel's chip, the problem lies with Intel not Linux.

      Even if the Linux kernel does have a small bug that AMD can tolerate but Intel cannot - Even if the Linux kernel makes use of a flaw in the Athlon 64 - that still puts the burden on Intel's shoulders to work around the problem if they want to claim compatibility.


      Oh how the mighty have fallen... "Look upon my works and despair" indeed.

    2. Re:Problem Intel or Linux? by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

      Since Intel only released this to try to play catch-up with AMD, if Linux runs stably on an Athlon64 but not Intel's chip, the problem lies with Intel not Linux.

      Do you develop kernel or driver software? Do you realize how rediculous what you are saying is? Working on AMD64 is not proof of correctness. While the instruction set that an end user application uses may be compatible between AMD and Intel the various control registers (not literally CRn but anything used for configuration or status) used by the kernel may be different and require new code.

    3. Re:Problem Intel or Linux? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Actually, intel would prefer to somehow claim that AMD is intel-compatible.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Problem Intel or Linux? by pla · · Score: 1

      Do you develop kernel or driver software?

      As a matter of fact, I do. Lucky you.


      Do you realize how rediculous what you are saying is?

      No. 'Splain it to me, Lucy...


      Working on AMD64 is not proof of correctness.

      Ah, we get to the heart of your error. Proof of correctness for what? If we talk about "compatibility with the 64-bit instructions as implemented on the Athlon64", they yes, working on an Athlon64 counts as the single most rigorous proof of correctness you can get.

      Moreso, in fact, than "compliance" with an official spec. Since you asked me if I write firmware, I will presume you have a bit of knowledge on the same topic - How many times have you gotten a hardware spec, only to find it either woefully incomplete or outright wrong? I'd say most companies shoot 50/50 in that area (ignoring minor oversights - Considering those, I don't think I've ever seen a totally accurate interface document).

      Work to the spec before you have product in hand, sure, but once you have a sample of your target device you'd damn well better trust it over any documentation... Or your employer will laugh heatily while booting you out the door, as you defend your nonfunctional code with "but it conforms 100% to the spec!"

    5. Re:Problem Intel or Linux? by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

      Compatibility generally refers to the application level, not the kernel level. It is normal for a kernel to have some knowledge of the specific CPU and to do a little branching accordingly. For example CPUID results changing a little depending on AMD or Intel, even changing a little between generations from the same vendor. Using your rediculous definition of compatibility we would have to say 32-bit Athlons are not Intel compatible because they do not report L1/L2 cache sizes in the same manner as Intel. Differences like this don't matter, the kernel can deal with. All that matters is that your end user apps don't have to care who made the CPU.

      To be clear CPUID is just a convenient example of where things can be different, I don't really expect the problem to be related to CPUID.

  45. We're still not back to minicomputer price levels by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 2, Informative

    Does anyone remember what a VAX-780 cost? That was a 1 MIPS CPU.

  46. Port to 64-bit, wasted effort now by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    Now it's time for game makers to get with the game [dum dum TISHHHH]. I'm tired of seeing 32 bits of my AMD 64 wasted every time I game, and now that every major player has 64 bit processors succeeding 32 bit, they need to get with the program and stop wasting bits.

    No, it is not time for 64-bit ports, well at least for game clients. Servers are a different topic. First your CPU is probably not your bottleneck, you graphics card probably is. Secondly, developers don't optimize for the high end, they generally spend what little time they have on optimizing the low end. The low end needs the help, the high end is fine as is.

  47. Ummmm? by TubeSteak · · Score: 1
    I thought Intel and AMD cross licensed a whole bunch of their various patents and instructions sets?

    So why would Intel slap the 64bit name on something that's not truly... 64.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  48. Itanic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 3, Informative
    The real victim of the Itanic was HP. HP traded their Precicison Architecture (which became Itanium) and all of their CPU engineers and their foundry to Intel in a non-cash deal. Intel is now using HP technology in i386-family CPUs and HP gets nothing for that.

    It's sort of like throwing a few billion dollars in the fireplace.

    Bruce

  49. For the general market, Athlon64 is a better buy by cyberjessy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    All of this is for Joe Sixpack. Not gamers and enthusiasts.

    If you want to go 64-bit, pick up an Athlon64 2800 for about $100, or Athlon64 3000 for abt $130. AMD motherboards also work out cheaper, since they have been around for a year and a half.

    The 64-bit market is just opening up, expect the pentium prices to come down significantly soon. By 2006, most processors will ship with 64-bit capability. There are not many 64-bit native applications available now. Games are still 32 bit. Windows XP 64 bit is just coming out next month. And Linux still does not support Joe.

    If you are price concious, NEVER buy anything quite recent. Save the money, and buy dual-core 64-bit processors a couple of years from now.

    --
    Life is just a conviction.
  50. Re:AMD is the worst. by obeythefist · · Score: 1

    Your understanding is... wrong.

    The numbers are based on a "hidden" series of benchmarks used internally at AMD.

    Since it's a model number, it's no guarantee of performance, it's just a shopping guide for retail consumers.

    AMD's corporate options are labelled more obfuscatingly, for instance the Opterons have numbers like 244 and 424.

    --
    I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
  51. Re:this is good, but by Stelminator · · Score: 1

    Intel and AMD have been "secretly" (they don't talk much about it, but every one knows it) copying each other for years. to be truthfull, it's usually AMD copying Intel. But every time the other one adds something spiffy (or not so spiffy), it gets copied. Why? Because consumers like it that way. Really, do you want to see what would happen if you couldn't move things between them seemlessly? Evey developer (including M$) would have to develope two different versions of everything. So, you'd have 2 different versions of Windows, which might not even be compatible with each other. IMO, Intel has a better rep for quality, but that's not the point. My point: I don't care who copies who, as long as it's easy to swap between them afterwards so that I could always choose based on speed, and not worry about compatibility.

  52. Re:AMD is the worst. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The problem with comparisons in MIPS (millions instructions per second) is that for different architectures, it takes a different number of instructions to accomplish the same amount of work. This doesn't matter for AMD/Intel (Athlon/64/Pentium/Xeon) as they all use the same (mostly) Instruction set. It would matter if, as the gp said, you wanted to compare Sun, Apple, Intel Itanium, or Intel Pentium, since they use differnt ISAs.

    Flops are a little cleaner, but still only test the Floating Point units. What if a chip has good floating point, but really shitty integer (it could happen). It would still suck to use for a lot of things. The only decent way of testing something (AFAIK) is to run it with the programs you intend to use it for and compare.

  53. Pentium 4s hit the streets and.... by mjh49746 · · Score: 3, Funny

    immediately they're overtaken by AMD64s and G5s once they get on the freeway. They're really easy to spot with an infrared camera, too. Kinda like overheated, broken down cars.

  54. Re:this is good, but by Humorously_Inept · · Score: 1

    Nobody is copying anybody. AMD and Intel have a crosslicencing agreement and they have had one in place for as long as I can remember. In effect, they each have things the other wants and it makes better business sense to flat out trade everything than it does to licence each and every thing. AMD gets to use the x86 instruction set and Intel's hokey alphabet soup of mumbo-jumbo whatchamacallits and Intel gets... Something worth their while, I'm sure. After all, they keep renewing the agreement.

    I believe AMD owns key Hyperthreading patents, and we all know that Hyperthreading is an Intel marketing juggernaut. Now there's the whole x86-64 business too, which Intel wasn't interested in until AMD proved that it was commercially viable and that people really did want it.

    --

    ~Someday, I hope to be an aspiring author.
  55. Re:AMD is the worst. by fiter · · Score: 1
    The Athlon XP was marketed using a PR rating system, which compared its performance to an Athlon Thunderbird.
    from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlon
    and another reference here

    perhaps someone should edit that then, but I must ask where you got your information
  56. wow 20 years by magnificus · · Score: 1

    Wow it was 20 years ago the memory protection bit a.k.a. NX was seen in 8086 en 80286, after it is was lost. Intel needed 20 years to find thair new implementation of the bit. the OP-code was always available in the intrstuction set of the intel 80x86 procesor for compatability reasons and never used in the real world.

  57. Too little, too late by Trogre · · Score: 1

    With Athlon64s and Opterons we're fully set up.

    Sorry Intel, we're all AMD here now.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  58. But...does it run Linux? (in 64-bit mode, that is) by Ed+Avis · · Score: 1

    Will existing x86-64 Linux distributions Just Work on one of these processors?

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  59. Re:AMD is the worst. by BitchKapoor · · Score: 1
    Does it just seem like it or are all the posters with 700000 UIDs clueless?

    All our secrets are out. It's true.

  60. Timing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    They've been on the market longer than that. We've carried them at Dell in our high end for the past 3-4 weeks.

  61. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by Mancat · · Score: 1

    *ring* "Where is the Start button? I can't find My Computer!"

    --
    hello dear sirs my name is jamesh i are india (bihar) can u guide me install red had linux 9?
  62. Re:But...does it run Linux? (in 64-bit mode, that by jonesy16 · · Score: 1

    In short, yes. Any code compiled for x86_64 will run on these chips, which, as previously stated, have actually been out for at least a week. The prescott cores that make up the 64-bit chips also have 2MB of L2 cache now.

  63. processor speed measurements by dascandy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    If you can get all the manufacturers to agree, comparing systems based on FLOPS would be effective, because it would remove the irrelevant clock speed argument, and thus allow you to compare how much work can be done in a time frame by the processor.

    In theory of course.

    In practice, you can get up to 1GFLOPS on a pretty simple machine, just put all your resources on doing flops asap. Ignore branches in your design, just make it run as many floating point instructions in a row as quickly as possible.

    In real situations however, both FLOPS and MIPS say very little. There's a damn good reason it's commonly transscribed as "Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed"

  64. You can't copyright numbers by Szplug · · Score: 1

    Somewhere around the time of the 3 & 4- 86, competitors started making compatible chips and giving them 3- & 4- ??? names. Intel tried to sue to prevent them from doing this, but the court ruled you can't copyright numbers. Thus their next iteration had a real name, the 'Pentium'.

    --
    Someday we'll all be negroes
  65. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by DrXym · · Score: 2, Informative
    What's the point? A 64-bit Intel will do absolutely nothing more than a 32-bit Intel chip will do. Why? Because Windows XP, Linux and everything else hasn't the faintest idea what a 64-bit x86 Intel chip is. So everything will run in 32-bit mode until such time as someone produces an OS that takes advantage of it.

    It's possible that Linux might be quicker off the mark to support the chip - you might even be able to patch it yourself with the right gcc & kernel - but since you said Dell you're really talking about XP. And XP isn't going to see support unless Microsoft produces another service pack to shore up the gulf of time that exists between now and their next release. Even if they do release SP3 with 64 bit goodness, you're still talking 6 months or more and the chances are that it will only offer token support in a limited number of places.

    On top of that, buying unsupported bleeding edge hardware is always a bad proposition. Its expensive, doesn't do anything and will probably be obsolete by the time that something comes around to supporting it. It would have been as foolish to buy AMD64 back when it was released.

  66. Re:AMD is the worst. by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

    Well, everyone who does the effort to get as many as 700000 UIDs must obviously be clueless. I mean, I could imagine that there's a value in having two or threee UIDs (although for me personally a single one is clearly enough), but who on earth needs 700000 of them?

    SCNR :-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  67. Re:We're still not back to minicomputer price leve by tomjen · · Score: 1

    True, but back them you programmed it in assembly, and avoided software bloat, today half the power is spent on eyecandy and gui.

    --
    Freedom or George Bush
  68. Re:For the general market, Athlon64 is a better bu by Aldric · · Score: 1

    Don't forget to go socket 939, otherwise you have no upgrade path in the future.

  69. 64-bit addressing = huge difference for games by master_p · · Score: 1

    One of the big advantages of 64-bit CPUs for gamers is that 64-bit addressing will open up new horizons in gaming. One of the problems with todays 32-bit computers is the memory limitation. With 64-bits memory sizes, it is possible to put lots of GB RAM, and then have truly huge game worlds.

    This is especially important for FPSs. Take HL2, for example. Although it boasts 'big' maps (well, bigger than previous efforts), the gameplay is based on limiting the player into one possible path. Each map is really small if one explores it using 'noclip'. With 64-bit CPUs, game maps could be huge, allowing for multiple routes and much greater variety, and increased re-playability.

  70. Re:AMD is the worst. by runderwo · · Score: 1

    Rating machines based on MIPS has always been part of the old RISC vs CISC debate. MIPS ratings give RISC machines an advantage because the instructions are simpler and execute faster. If a valid comparison were to be made, it'd have to take into account the decomposition of CISC instructions to internal RISC operations that the P4's microcode/trace cache performs. Good luck getting any information on that, though.

  71. Re:AMD is the worst. by Tim+C · · Score: 2

    I'd mod ya down if I werent replying, but not because you're pro intel, just because your logic is flawed.

    But slashdot doesn't have a "-1, Stupid (and Wrong)" moderation, more's the pity...

  72. Guess what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Retail 64-bit windows is coming out very soon.
    Those bastards at Micro$oft waited for Intel to catch on with AMD.
    It wouldn't be Wintel without that.

  73. Re:For the general market, Athlon64 is a better bu by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 1

    All of this is for Joe Sixpack. Not gamers and enthusiasts.

    Except that Joe Sixpack doesn't understand the point of 64-bits. Okay, you can have a lot more memory, but then you hardly run into any average computer users with more than 512 megabytes of RAM anyway, and *zero* who are maxing out what a 32-bit CPU can handle.

    Not to mention Joe Sixpack's reaction when he finds out that upgrading to 8 gigs of RAM is going to cost more than his entire PC did.

  74. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    err , linux already does run on 64bit processors. Suse linux has supported this for over 1 year now. I cant speak for the applications in KDE, but the Distro definitly comes with a 64bit kernel on the other side of the DVD.Since Intel seem to have quietly reverse engineered and copied the AMD Instruction set , I don't see why It should not work with 64 bit Linux.More here : http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1561875 ,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

  75. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by macemoneta · · Score: 1

    I don't know why the parent is modded informative. Linux has been running 64-bit since the x86_64 machines were available (over a year). I run a fully 64-bit Linux distribution (Fedora Core 3 x86_64). Windows is lagging, that's true. But that's nothing new.

    --

    Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.

  76. Re:AMD is the worst. by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking we need some sort of ISO standard for clock speed

    How about the amount of time it takes a processor to do a full-text search on the entire Library of Congress? :)

    --
    Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
  77. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by DrXym · · Score: 1
    Yes it does and I know it does. Where did I say different?


    Now tell me which AMD64 version of Linux works out of the box with an Intel 64-bit processor. I'm sure both processors are mostly similar but they're not identical, that's for sure.

  78. Re:64-bit? by fitten · · Score: 1

    Why is 64-bit so desirable?

    Mostly hype right now. Most people have no clue what 64-bit buys them over 32-bit other than it's the latest thing from AMD and it's ubar!!!1!1!

    Is there much performance gain?

    This greatly depends on what you are doing. Some things (like encryption, GIS, and other application areas) can get good speedups. Most things will get marginal to no speedup. A few things will actually slow down in 64-bit mode (code that uses lots of pointers may slow down because pointers now take up 2x the amount of cache than in 32-bit mode, leaving less room in cache... this may be a problem for Java, C#, and similar systems).

    Other obvious benefits are to programs that like lots of memory. Databases love memory so can benefit at least as much by 64-bit addressing as for using 64-bit processing instructions, for example.

    Because from what I understand not all programs use 64-bit instructions yet.

    Depends. On a 64-bit OS (personally, I use SuSE 9.2 AMD64) there are many applications that are native x86_64 compiled. On Windows, you need to be running Windows XP64 to have any.

  79. AMD 64-bit cpus were released 23 months ago... by dtjohnson · · Score: 1

    It's a small historical point but the first 64-bit AMD processor was released in April, 2003 which was 23 months ago, not 18 months ago as the article states. I remember this because I started using a 64-bit Opteron 240 workstation with an ASUS SK8N motherboard in July, 2003 which was 20 months ago. The 64-bit Windows XP and Linux OS's as well as a lot of 64-bit software were developed on 64-bit AMD systems since there were no 64-bit Intel x86-64 systems existing.

  80. Re:It'll still be wasted by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    2GB is not overkill. It's nice to be able to cache whole levels so you're not the one holding things up and you get to the buy screen faster :)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  81. not entirely twice as fast by Dark_Link2135 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Something that i have seen here that is a bit of a misconception is that some people seem to think 64 bit processors are twice as fast, or can handle twice as much data as a 32-bit processor. This is not so. 4 types of data run through a processor: Integer Address String Floating Point in a 32 bit processor, the ranges are as follows Integer - 32 Address - 32 String - 64 Floating Point - 128 in a 64 bit processor, however, the ranges are as follows Integer - 64 Address - 64 String - 64 Floating Point - 128 All that is simply saying, by saying a 64-bit processor, is that the processer can handle 64 binary instructions per clock cycle, twice as many as a 32 bit processer, only in the integer and address ranges. so it is not truly twice as fast, and neither can it truly handle twice as much data, just 2 of the 4 types of data have been doubled. theoretically, a 64 bit processor could address 16 exabytes of ram (i believe this is 16 million gigs of ram) but obviously there are limitations to this. and interesting fact i thought i would stick in here :p ps. - my ranges for floating point and string might have been reversed, now that i think about it i cant remember whether floating point is 128 bit or whether string data is 128 bit.

    --
    "Potpourii doesn't taste as good as it smells." - Dark_Link2135
    1. Re:not entirely twice as fast by Dark_Link2135 · · Score: 1

      sorry about that...no periods. id forgotten that all my nicely spaced out lines would be crammed together when i submitted my comment.

      --
      "Potpourii doesn't taste as good as it smells." - Dark_Link2135
  82. A cluster of ... by qualico · · Score: 1

    So I guess no one would be interested in a cluster of 64bit P4s?

    Seriously though, I'd love to see them start to increase the cores from 2 to 4 then 8 etc.

    Could the chip be designed like a parking lot, such that if a processing core is being used the request is sent to the next available core?

    Time to make the chips smarter without relying on enhancements from the OS community.

    Just trying to punch a hole in this paper bag.

  83. Doesn't seem to make any difference by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    I moved from 1GB to 2GB receantly (I play with samplers that feature multi-gigabyte sample sets, my drumkit alone is 2.4GB) and I haven't noticed any improvements, even in World of Warcraft. It seems that after a point, games just run out of things to eat up memory with and you don't get any benefit from more.

  84. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by DrXym · · Score: 1
    I know that, but that doesn't mean that a 6 month old FC3 is going to work flawlessly on a chip that hasn't even appeared in channels yet, let alone in a Dell that doesn't exist, let alone for a user who bought the Dell in the first place, let alone support it any optimal fashion (e.g. support for Intel / AMD specific functionality).

    Once Linux supports it properly (as in having been tested on production machines), and XP 64 appears and the likes of Dell produce a 64 bit machine then there might be a point for telling someone to get it. At that point the weight will shift into the 64-bit world and the market will take care of the rest. But at the moment there is little point.

  85. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by macemoneta · · Score: 1

    Have you seen any unscheduled downtime on your 64-bit machines? We haven't seen any.

    --

    Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.

  86. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At least Gentoo apparently. That's how linuxhardware was able to get benchmarks of various linux software on 64-bit AMD and Intel, and compare the speeds of 64 vs 32 bit binaries on both. Presumeably other AMD64 distros shouldn't have a problem.

    EMT64 is basically identical to AMD64, by design since they went off of pre-release documentation for AMD64 in order to be compatible (ha! what a historic reversal of roles!). The only differences that exist between EMT64 and AMD64 are almost certainly due to errors/changes in the documentation that Intel used. These differences don't seem to stop OSes for AMD64 from running.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  87. English? by MasTRE · · Score: 1

    Perhaps this is what was meant?

    "As Slashdot previously reported, the 64-bit series will likely be the last major enhancement to the Pentium 4 line before the introduction of the Pentium D "Smithfield," Intel's first dual-core part, which is slated for next quarter."

    --
    Must-not-watch TV!
  88. Or not... by PhrstBrn · · Score: 1

    These new chips are not true 64-bit chips. The EMT64 chips just add support for more memory, and will "support" 64-bit operating systems (they're just doing some fancy emulation).

    http://developer.intel.com/technology/64bitextensi ons/faq.htm
    http://developer.intel.com/technology/64bitextensi ons/index.htm

    We shouldn't see a TRUE 64-bit chip from Intel for a year.

  89. Minor correction by rewt66 · · Score: 1

    The courts ruled that you can't trademark numbers.

  90. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by virtual_mps · · Score: 1
    Now tell me which AMD64 version of Linux works out of the box with an Intel 64-bit processor. I'm sure both processors are mostly similar but they're not identical, that's for sure.

    I suppose you're just not aware that while the 64 bit pentium 4 is new the 64 bit xeon has been out for a year now--the only difference is that the new chip is marketed at desktops rather than servers. All the amd64 linuxes that I know of work fine on intel's implementation.

  91. Bzzzt! by jarran · · Score: 1

    You are wrong.

    "have to" means "must", whereas the second "have" mean possess. "have to have" could be paraphrased as "must possess".

    In the other phrases you give, the repeated word has an identical meaning. Even so, I don't see what is wrong with them. "I need a license to get a license.", is a well formed and meaningful (if slightly ambiguous) English sentence. I could even see situations in which it could be used - in the UK at least, you need a Provisional Driving License to get a Driving License, and a Driving License to get a Public Service Vehicle License.

    It isn't a particularly pretty choice of words, but maybe you'd care to explain exactly what gramatical rule you think this is breaking?

    1. Re:Bzzzt! by MoralHazard · · Score: 1

      Thank you. Thank you ever so much. You are far too kind.

  92. Re:Should I tell Dell to hold off? by toddestan · · Score: 1

    If you thought someone should "Get a Dell" - as opposed to building their own, getting a good whitebox, or even getting a better name brand computer - then it's pretty unlikely they are going to benefit any from a 64bit chip. I'd not worry about it.

  93. Re:Wimped out G5s sure do great in clusters. by toddestan · · Score: 1

    Right, because I can count the number of G5 based clusters in the top 500 with 2 fingers.

    Sure are a lot of Intel Xeons in there though.

  94. Re:AMD is the worst. by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1
    If you can get all the manufacturers to agree, comparing systems based on FLOPS would be effective [...]

    ...as long as what you're planning to run software that needs lots of FLOPS. Personally, FLOPS are completely meaningless on my servers; infinite FLOPS aren't going to make buildworld, run my mail filters, or serve Zope pages any faster. You might find that to be a meaningful number but I have no interest in it, and such is the nature of benchmarks.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  95. Re:64-bit? by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1
    Besides the more flattened memory addressing, and the extra registers, there's the inherent speed increase of being able to perform mathematical operations on 64 bit numbers instead of 32 bit ones. This really comes in handy in a lot of crypto operations, for example, or comparing IPv6 addresses, or filesystem addressing, or any number of other similar bignum operations common today.

    Assuming that the 64-bit CPU's ALU can process numbers at least as fast as a comparable 32-bit CPU's ALU, then the 64-bit version can do any of the forementioned operations more than twice as fast as the "narrower" processor ("more than" instead of "exactly" since it has at no more than half the number of intermediate carry-bit operations to muck around with). That's one of the huge wins that we're all looking forward to testing.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  96. Replying to myself Re: FLOPS for a benchmark by mhesseltine · · Score: 1

    As a couple of posters have pointed out, I was a little short-sighted on suggesting using FLOPS as a benchmark for processors. Serving web pages, building software, etc. doesn't require floating operations, so FLOPS are irrelevant to that type of work.

    So, I propose that manufacturers list

    • Floating operations per second
    • Integer operations per second
    • Other measures of performance i.e. not clock speed, cache size, etc.

    Basically, tell us all about how a chip performs in each area and let us make the decision.

    --
    Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
  97. Re:For the general market, Athlon64 is a better bu by Mad+Marlin · · Score: 1

    Joe Sixpack doesn't need to need to understand 32 versus 64 bit. Even when I was a kid and didn't know jack about computers, I "knew" that the Sega Genesis was better than the NES, because the Genesis was 16 bit and the NES was only 8 bit. A same level of (almost absent) understanding is enough 64 = 2*32, therefore I want the 64 bit one.