Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 11:10:19 06/02/98
Go up one level in this thread
On June 02, 1998 at 11:07:45, Guido Schimmels wrote: > >On June 02, 1998 at 10:19:44, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>yep... and the new "Merced" chip looks very good too. I have some early >>crafty benchmarks but I can't say anything at present for obvious >>reasons. >>It is unfortunate that Merced has been slipped to 2000, from 1999.. but >>for 64 bit programs it is going to be a screamer, I can tell you. And >>it >>is being designed for multiple processors from the get-go... first >>prototype I heard of had 4 processors. >> >>But then again, the 21264 is also a screamer.... > >Recently I got curious about VLIW - which will be used by Merced - >and read some articles I found on the net. One article sad VLIW-code >is closely related to clock-frequency, i.e. for example code compiled >for > a 500 mhz machine will not run on a 600 mhz machine. You will have >to recompile it. Is this true for Merced ? >I think this would be a *big* disadvantage on the market place >- unless Merced will be much faster than Alpha - >(DEC says Alpha will be slightly faster !???) >Another thing I did not quite get is the way Merced will handle >x86-compatibility. As 32bit-x86 is so much different from 64bit-VLIW, > I can't think of any other than emulating the way FX!32 does on Alphas >. >But that is not the way they do it, I heard. > >Bob, please show me the light ! > >- Guido I don't believe you will see *any* VLIW computers in the future. that was pre-superscalar, where a single instruction actually did multiple things at once. Sort of like superscalar, except more "fixed". Since superscalar architectures have been pushed so far, with the best so far probably being the pentium pro/pentium II approach to superscalar execution, it is doubtful that anyone would go backward to a true VLIW architecture. I don't believe Merced is based on such an idea, although details are obviously sketchy. But clearly the alphas, HP's and so forth are not...
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.