Author: Eugene Nalimov
Date: 12:56:41 11/17/98
Go up one level in this thread
Also please note that there will be NT for AXP-21264, so most part of the interrupt handling code will be on place. (that's my own opinion, not official Microsoft position). Eugene On November 17, 1998 at 15:48:55, Ernst A. Heinz wrote: >On November 17, 1998 at 15:26:23, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>On November 16, 1998 at 19:45:31, Terry Presgrove wrote: >> >>>I just read that AMD's new K-7 chip will support multi-processing >>>but I'm not sure it will be shared memory? Here is the quote from >>>AMD's home page. "About the AMD-K7(TM) Processor >>>The AMD-K7 processor with 3DNow!(TM) technology is a Microsoft® Windows® >>>compatible, seventh-generation design featuring a deeply pipelined, nine-issue >>>superscalar microarchitecture optimized for high clock frequency; a superscalar >>>pipelined floating point unit; 128KB of on-chip level one (L1) cache; a >>>programmable high-performance backside L2 cache interface; and a 200 MHz Alpha >>>EV6 compatible system bus interface with support for scalable multiprocessing. >>>The AMD-K7 processor is slated for introduction in the first half of 1999 and is >>>planned to operate at clock frequencies greater than 500 MHz." >>>I guess the key phrase is "scalable multiprocessing" anyone have a clue >>>as to what this means? I am particularly interested in its impact on chess >>>programs? >> >>Here's the main issue... Intel owns the "IO_APIC" design for handling >>interrupts at the hardware level. They won't (so far) license it to anyone >>else. This means that APIC interrupt handling is only going to apply to the >>Intel processors. OK for step 1. >> >>Next, Linux and NT support SMP, but *only* via the APIC interrupt handling >>approach. Which again means only on Intel processors. >> >>So the answer is "yes, the K7 *can* be used in a SMP computer, but no, it won't >>be usable for a long time, if ever, because no one wants to rewrite the >>interrupt handlers to use the AMD interrupt controller design." When enough >>are "out" Linux will likely support it. But don't look for something very >>quickly... because until there is an operating system to support it, it is >>going to be hard to get a vendor to design/build SMP motherboards for that >>processor... and until they do, there won't be any O/S support... and on and >>on... :) > >Please do not deride SMP-capable K7 mainboards so fast, Bob ... :-) > >Your chain of arguments applies perfectly to the current situation with the >K6s & K6-2s which in principle support SMP as well but lack according boards >to show their according power. > >In case of the K7, however, the situation is definitely different because the >K7 uses the same external bus interface as the new DEC/Compaq Alpha-21264. >Because AMD and Compaq are close business partners, it is to be expected that >the Alpha-21264 SMP mainboards of Compaq will make a perfect fit for the K7 as >well (and probably not only the SMP boards). Some enthusiasts are already >dreaming of "hyprid" systems with Alpha-21264 & AMD-K7 on the same board. :-) > >The final SMP test of the K7 will therefore probably be the software support >which should be doable for Linux and Windows NT if Compaq is really interested >in selling K7-based SMP workstations and servers. > >=Ernst=
This page took 0 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.