Re: MMX Technologie
Keith Rohrer (kwrohrer@uiuc.edu)
Sun, 23 Mar 1997 23:20:29 +0000 (GMT)
> > > > 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