[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Wed, Aug 24, 2005 at 02:47:09PM -0400, Alan Stange wrote:
At least on Sparc processors, v8 and newer, any double precision math
(including longs) is performed with a single instruction, just like for
a 32 bit datum. Loads and stores of 8 byte datums are also handled via
a single instruction. The urban myth that 64bit math is
different/better on a 64 bit processor is just that; yes, some lower
end processors would emulate/trap those instructions but that an
implementation detail, not architecture.
It isn't an urban myth that 64-bit math on a 64-bit processor is
faster, at least if done using registers. It definately is faster.
The older 32bit RISC processors do have 64 bit registers, ALUs and
datapaths, and they are marketed toward high end scientific computing,
and you're claiming that such a processor is slower than one which has
the addition of 64 bit pointers added to it?
As an example, an UltraSparc running a 32 bit kernel+application will
have the same double precision floating point performance as one
running a 64bit kernel+application (except for the additional FP
registers in the 64bit API). For a function like daxpy, it's the exact
same hardware running the exact same instructions! So why do you think
the performance would be different?
I believe the IBM Power processors also upped everything to double
precision internally because of some details of the "multiply-add fused"
instructions. It's been a few years since I taught H&P to CS
undergrads, but I'm fairly sure the details are all the same for MIPS
processors as well.
-- Alan
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