Messages in this thread | | | From | Keith Rohrer <> | Subject | Re: MMX Technologie | Date | Sun, 23 Mar 1997 23:20:29 +0000 (GMT) |
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> > > > K6 is AMD's pentium-pro comeptitive chip, and it has MMX instructions. > > > Hmm. Are the instructions compatible all the way down-to-the-wire with > > > those from Intel?? Just a thought. Might be an easy way to build a > > > really fast, inexpensive machine. > > I would assume so ... I know a few people with Cyrix or AMD based > > Linux boxes ... > Forgot to mention that I was wondering about the MMX compatibility in > particular... and what about the cache sizes on the AMD chips? =) Dunno about AMD cache sizes. But I find it far more likely that AMD and Cyrix will be able to perfectly duplicate a published, documented interface like MMX (especially since AMD is licensing MMX from Intel), than random, semi-documented or undocumented (or documented for those who wish to sign an NDA) additions like the various odd Pentium- specific instructions. The big reason the Cyrix 6x86 normally claims to software to be a fast 486 isn't a matter of lesser technology, but a way to increase reliability by making Pentium-aware software not expect the 6x86 to be bug-for-bug compatible. The only reason the 6x86 has to claim to be a Pentium is that some software was misdesigned to use the processor generation number as a speed metric, rather than doing something intelligent like timing their critical loop.
Keith
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