CPUs (wasRe: [Gllug] Install problems again)

[Chris Bell]

On Sat 11 Jan, Ian Norton wrote:
> 
> isnt the X range of intel chips just souped up ARM chips?
> 
   That's the one, a small but carefully selected set of mostly single-word
instructions, needing only a few data bits per instruction but allowing more
parameters to be included within the word, no need for more than a
relatively short pipeline nor ridiculous clock speeds, but what it does do
it does extremely efficiently so that it stays cool but gets the job done.
   The x86 range can do some very clever things, but even before the first
of the ARM chips was built research showed that only 30 percent of the
instructions on more complex chips were used for 70 percent of the time.
Many of the more complex instructions were rarely used, but having them in
hardware added to transit times across the chip and the heat produced. It
was far more efficient to have a few more items in the software libraries.


-- 
Chris Bell


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