[Gllug] Laptops?

[Henrik Morsing]

> If you look at the SPEC2000 results for the IBM Power4 chips clocked at
> 1GHz, you find them getting 610-630 SPECint base and 630-680 SPECint
> peak. This is the same as a 2GHz Pentium-4 on an Intel motherboard, or a
> 1GHz Itanium-2 in an SGI box, or an Athlon XP 1800+ on an Epox
> motherboard, or a 1GHz Alpha box. Now, it's true that the Power4 is a
> little more heavy-duty than the G4, but it's the same basic core - the
> substantial difference being ALTIVEC.

Do you have any links to document this? It is my understanding that the
POWER4 and G4 is pretty far apart although I don't know much about
small computer systems CPUs. What is ALTIVEC?
Is the SPEC numbers you state for one processor core or for one chip?

It also seems a bit excessive that IBM charges £8000 for a processor
that's basically just a G4.

> I don't think there are any CPU's left with a CISC core - except
> possibly the Itanium. In all other cases, a front-end decoded translates
> the visible ISA into an internal ISA that is essentially RISC-like. The
> width of this decoder can be a limiting factor for the CPU performance.

As far as I know, mainframes still use CISC processors but I only have
this from colleagues that should know (but they might not).


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