Author: KarinsDad
Date: 12:03:43 06/15/99
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On June 15, 1999 at 13:38:16, leonid wrote: >On June 15, 1999 at 10:15:18, David Blackman wrote: > >>On June 15, 1999 at 07:06:38, leonid wrote: >> >>>Hi! >>> >>>In this year, presumably, 64 bits Intel chip should be produced. It >>>expected to be more that attractive - 128 registers each 64 bits wide. >>>Do you know something about it? When it will hit the market? >>> >>>Leonid. >> >>The architecture has been disclosed. You can get it from somewhere on the intel >>website (over 1MB PDF). It looks pretty weird. At the same clock speed, i >>suspect it will be faster than anything else. But it might turn out to be hard >>to make at fast clock speeds. The public documents i've seen give no hints about >>how they will implement it, when it will hit the market, etc. >> >>Past attempts to make similar architectures were huge flops. (There were quite a >>few in the late 1980s.) But Intel has more resources, and technology has >>improved a lot, so who knows? >> >>I suspect most of it's advanced features won't be a big help to chess programs >>unless the programmers are extremely clever. > >I think otherwise. I have the impression that this chip could be of >incredible help in the chess programming. For this I see 2 reasons: > >1) 128 registers and no more meager, around ten, registers of present CPU. > Many of those new registers can be used for the variables of quick access. > >2) Each register is 64 bits wide. This goes in miraculous coincidence with > the chess board that is composed of 64 squares. > >And at the end, one small additional advantage. Very often in the game we >must save the chess board position far later recall. Now this will be done >at double speed. More I think about the 64 bits computer, more I am eager >to reach it for first tryal. > >Leonid. You may be correct, but there are some other considerations: 1) The compilers will not be able to take advantage of the new registers/64 bits for 6-12 months until after the chip is released. Porting the Alpha compilers will not work (different registers, etc.). 2) The motherboard manufacturers will be behind as well. Also, you should be EXTREMELY careful about which motherboard you use with such a chip. Therefore, chess programmers will not be able to take real advantage of such as chip for at least a year and possibly a year and a half until after it is released. KarinsDad :)
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