Basically, multimedia apps (large array manipulations) are what the P4 was desgned to do. SSE2, being primarily a set of vector math instructions (back to array manipulation, again), can only help the P4 in such a situation. The problem, of course, arises when the program being run is not easily vectorizable (Gah. Is that even a word?). So, video encoding will fly on P4, as well as some kinds of scientific simulations (I'm thinking of organic chemistry stuff). For the rest of the code out there, the P4 just does not do well. It's a specialization issue.
>What's next - saying you can't fast-forward through the scene in the movie with all the product-placement for >brandX cola?
Too late. It's already here. Disney, on the DVD version of 'Tarzan'(I think, but I do know it is one of their animated movies), put an ad (Coke, I believe) on the part of the DVD that contains the FBI warning. Yup, you HAVE to watch the Coke ad. Charming.
Ugh. The thought of PG&E or SoCal Edison operating nukes gives me nightmares (I'm pretty pro-nuke, though). In addition, the extremely negative reaction that Joe Q. Public exhibits when the word 'nuclear' is mentioned will probably prevent *any* nuke plant from ever being built. Unfortunately, this will make it a bitch when (or if) fusion power generation happens. For the future, I see residences generating power via on-site methods, like solar on the rooftop or home fuel-cell stacks. BTW, I did live in Chicago for a number of years, so I do know that solar is quite impractical there. But, those fuel-cell stacks look quite promising.
On the other hand, local control of schools has given us such charming instances as Kansas, whose Board of Education 'deemphasized' the teaching of evolution and the Big Bang. Federal control may very well be a bad idea, but local control is too much of a mixed bag for me to trust it.
Skyhook seems like a good idea in theory, but it has one very big problem: The tether, or anything attached to it, cannot be made from an electrically conductive material (Not even a little bit). If it is, you have a conductor moving through Earth's magnetic field. Considering the strength of Earth's magnetic field and the velocity at which the tether will be travelling, the current generated is extremely large. Any resistance at all will cause the tether to heat up and eventually break. NASA did a few tether experiments a few years back. The one I remember had the same thing happen, but the tether was around a half kilometer long. Now, if the tether was made of a superconductor...
The biggest problem with the P4 is its extremely long pipeline (I won't mention the girly-man FPU, 'cause SSE2 may fix that). This makes it unsuitable for any application that has hard-to-predict branches. What happens is that the P4's branch predictor can't work so well, and coupled with the immense penalty for a branch mispredict, the P4 dies horribly. This problem is not just related to Word, etc. Compiles take much longer on the P4 compared to PIII, Athlon. And, for all you gamers out there, AI just kills the P4 (those pesky branches again). With modern games having ever more complex AI's, this will be a significant problem. (And for all who point to the P4's Q3 numbers, take a look at the review on Ace's Hardware.) If Athlon continues to scale, and AMD brings Clawhammer out on time, Intel will be in trouble.
The Carnot efficency is the theoretical maximum efficency of any heat engine. The equation for this is: e=(1-(TL/TH)), where TH is the high temperature in the system, and TL is the low temperature. That 40% efficency is independent of materials, design, etc. Only temperature.
(I'm taking Thermo right now).
No deal. A (limited to certain types of spending) line-item veto bill was passed a few years ago. It was used once by President Clinton, and then challenged in the courts. The Supreme Court tossed it out as unconstitutional. It was seen as extending legsilative powers to the executive branch, and tossed out.
Commerce trumps the First Amendment? Righto. I think that Judge Kaplan and others who believe that should think long and hard about such an idea. The entertainment industry has been found to be marketing mature movies/music/games to children. Now, the article I read said that no legislation would be passed, due to First Amendment concerns! It sounds like it is the other way around. These people should realize that the First Amendment is the only reason that the entertainment industry is able to sell some of the content that they do.
Well, this is another case of 'MHz uber alles'. Remember, MHz is not the end-all be-all of computer technology. RDRAM operates at 400 MHz DDR, but pushes that through a 16 bit bus (for 1.6 GB/s). PC133/DDR266 operates at 133 MHz, but uses a 64 bit bus (for 1.06/2.12 GB/s, respectively). So, what is really important in evaluating memory technologies is the amount of data being transfered per second. So, DDR SDRAM will keep that Thunderbird better fed than RDRAM.
BTW, this doesn't take into consderation RDRAM's atrocious latency. For a more complete explanation, look at http://www.aceshardware.com and their RAM article for an explanation of how latency affects bandwidth. Very informative.
RDRAM latency is a big issue, but with proper processor and chipset design, this can be avoided. Alpha's EV8 (?) is an example of this. If I remember right, the Rambus controller will be integrated into the processor core, and the architecture of the core is designed to minimize the RDRAM latency hit. In addition, the Alpha RDRAM controller is an 8-channel setup (8*1.6GB=12.8 GB max bandwidth). As for interleaving SDRAM, remember that SDRAM has a much higher pin count, which means more traces on the motherboard. Because of this, multi-channel SDRAM is more difficult and costly to implement. Though, with RDRAM prices the way they are, this is not too much of an issue. I believe ALi has a dual-channel SDRAM chipset (socket 7), though.
Slashdot Mirror
Basically, multimedia apps (large array manipulations) are what the P4 was desgned to do. SSE2, being primarily a set of vector math instructions (back to array manipulation, again), can only help the P4 in such a situation. The problem, of course, arises when the program being run is not easily vectorizable (Gah. Is that even a word?). So, video encoding will fly on P4, as well as some kinds of scientific simulations (I'm thinking of organic chemistry stuff). For the rest of the code out there, the P4 just does not do well. It's a specialization issue.
The show was Babylon 5, and said assumption *did* lead to war. Earth got pasted, though.
>What's next - saying you can't fast-forward through the scene in the movie with all the product-placement for >brandX cola?
Too late. It's already here. Disney, on the DVD version of 'Tarzan'(I think, but I do know it is one of their animated movies), put an ad (Coke, I believe) on the part of the DVD that contains the FBI warning. Yup, you HAVE to watch the Coke ad. Charming.
Ugh. The thought of PG&E or SoCal Edison operating nukes gives me nightmares (I'm pretty pro-nuke, though). In addition, the extremely negative reaction that Joe Q. Public exhibits when the word 'nuclear' is mentioned will probably prevent *any* nuke plant from ever being built. Unfortunately, this will make it a bitch when (or if) fusion power generation happens. For the future, I see residences generating power via on-site methods, like solar on the rooftop or home fuel-cell stacks. BTW, I did live in Chicago for a number of years, so I do know that solar is quite impractical there. But, those fuel-cell stacks look quite promising.
Do you have a link to information about that plant in Arkansas?
On the other hand, local control of schools has given us such charming instances as Kansas, whose Board of Education 'deemphasized' the teaching of evolution and the Big Bang. Federal control may very well be a bad idea, but local control is too much of a mixed bag for me to trust it.
If I remember right, that program is called 98lite. See www.98lite.net.
Skyhook seems like a good idea in theory, but it has one very big problem: The tether, or anything attached to it, cannot be made from an electrically conductive material (Not even a little bit). If it is, you have a conductor moving through Earth's magnetic field. Considering the strength of Earth's magnetic field and the velocity at which the tether will be travelling, the current generated is extremely large. Any resistance at all will cause the tether to heat up and eventually break. NASA did a few tether experiments a few years back. The one I remember had the same thing happen, but the tether was around a half kilometer long. Now, if the tether was made of a superconductor...
The biggest problem with the P4 is its extremely long pipeline (I won't mention the girly-man FPU, 'cause SSE2 may fix that). This makes it unsuitable for any application that has hard-to-predict branches. What happens is that the P4's branch predictor can't work so well, and coupled with the immense penalty for a branch mispredict, the P4 dies horribly. This problem is not just related to Word, etc. Compiles take much longer on the P4 compared to PIII, Athlon. And, for all you gamers out there, AI just kills the P4 (those pesky branches again). With modern games having ever more complex AI's, this will be a significant problem. (And for all who point to the P4's Q3 numbers, take a look at the review on Ace's Hardware.) If Athlon continues to scale, and AMD brings Clawhammer out on time, Intel will be in trouble.
The Carnot efficency is the theoretical maximum efficency of any heat engine. The equation for this is: e=(1-(TL/TH)), where TH is the high temperature in the system, and TL is the low temperature. That 40% efficency is independent of materials, design, etc. Only temperature. (I'm taking Thermo right now).
No deal. A (limited to certain types of spending) line-item veto bill was passed a few years ago. It was used once by President Clinton, and then challenged in the courts. The Supreme Court tossed it out as unconstitutional. It was seen as extending legsilative powers to the executive branch, and tossed out.
Commerce trumps the First Amendment? Righto. I think that Judge Kaplan and others who believe that should think long and hard about such an idea. The entertainment industry has been found to be marketing mature movies/music/games to children. Now, the article I read said that no legislation would be passed, due to First Amendment concerns! It sounds like it is the other way around. These people should realize that the First Amendment is the only reason that the entertainment industry is able to sell some of the content that they do.
Well, this is another case of 'MHz uber alles'. Remember, MHz is not the end-all be-all of computer technology. RDRAM operates at 400 MHz DDR, but pushes that through a 16 bit bus (for 1.6 GB/s). PC133/DDR266 operates at 133 MHz, but uses a 64 bit bus (for 1.06/2.12 GB/s, respectively). So, what is really important in evaluating memory technologies is the amount of data being transfered per second. So, DDR SDRAM will keep that Thunderbird better fed than RDRAM. BTW, this doesn't take into consderation RDRAM's atrocious latency. For a more complete explanation, look at http://www.aceshardware.com and their RAM article for an explanation of how latency affects bandwidth. Very informative.
RDRAM latency is a big issue, but with proper processor and chipset design, this can be avoided. Alpha's EV8 (?) is an example of this. If I remember right, the Rambus controller will be integrated into the processor core, and the architecture of the core is designed to minimize the RDRAM latency hit. In addition, the Alpha RDRAM controller is an 8-channel setup (8*1.6GB=12.8 GB max bandwidth). As for interleaving SDRAM, remember that SDRAM has a much higher pin count, which means more traces on the motherboard. Because of this, multi-channel SDRAM is more difficult and costly to implement. Though, with RDRAM prices the way they are, this is not too much of an issue. I believe ALi has a dual-channel SDRAM chipset (socket 7), though.