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Subject: Re: Question to Dr. Robert Hyatt

Author: Tom Kerrigan

Date: 11:05:18 05/20/03

Go up one level in this thread


On May 19, 2003 at 21:43:03, Matthew White wrote:

>On May 19, 2003 at 17:18:13, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>
>>On May 18, 2003 at 12:29:33, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>
>>>On May 18, 2003 at 09:40:34, Alvaro Jose Povoa Cardoso wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi, I was thinking on upgrading my system to an Athlon 64 (not yet released) by
>>>>Christmas 2003.
>>>>Assuming those systems will be available by year end, I was wondering if by then
>>>>you will have a binary of crafty that would run 64 bit instructions and if it
>>>>would run normaly with winboard.
>>>>Also, will it run on the current Windows XP (32 bit)?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Best regards,
>>>>Alvaro Cardoso
>>>
>>>Don't be so eager to jump on the athlon 64 bandwagon. Too many things are new
>>>about it:
>>>
>>>(1) New 64 bit cpu
>>>(2) New supporting chipsets
>>>(3) New 64 bit OS
>>>(4) New hardware drivers
>>>(5) New 64 bit compilers
>>>(6) and more generally: New 64 bit software
>>
>>If you don't like (3), (4), (5), or (6), then just use 32-bit software.
>>
>>Reviews of Opteron running 32-bit software indicate that it performs quite well.
>>
>>Speaking to each point individually:
>>
>>(1) - What's wrong with a new processor? Would you hold off on buying a Pentium
>>5 because it's new? What would you wait for, a Pentium 6 instead? Besides, the
>>Athlon 64/Opteron is based on current Athlons, so it's not 100% new.
>>
>The Pentiums were based on the 486's, but that didn't save them from the "F00F"
>bug. Some people don't mind buying processors with low serial numbers, others
>do. It's a matter of personal preference, I guess.
>
>Matt

I wasn't aware that the Pentium borrowed anything from the 486, and if it did,
it must have been a very small amount.

If you're running a server, I can see why you'd want to avoid F00F-style
situations, but the worst a processor bug can do to Joe Sixpack is cause his
computer to crash, and even that isn't so likely considering the millions of
hours of testing these designs go through.

-Tom



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