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more on risc etc Why the Intel switch is bad
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 17:13:38 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Mike O'Dell <mo () ccr org> Date: June 7, 2005 5:07:13 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Why the Intel switch is bad this riff against RISC machines is nonsense the MIPS processors were and still are monsters at what they do well, far exceeding the performance of x86 lamers. just ask cisco how many of their products replaced funny hardware with MIPS parts 10 years ago. and the MIPS cores are still embedded in many very high performance communications processing chips. turns out you can process entire packet headers in the luxurious register set in a MIPS, and with a 20K, you can do it bloody fast. the latest round of "deep inspection" packet crackers are all based on MIPS cores.and the ARM (esp StrongArm) is the undisputed champion of computes per transistor and
computes per milliwatt dissipated. there are more ARMs in the world than x86 machines by a large margin and the dearly departed DEC Alpha was so far ahead of its "competitors" that is was deemed by many to be beyond what anyone could need. in fact, *many* engine control units in automobiles just happen to have a PowerPC inside them, some cars have several. and in the embedded avionics and signal processing world, the G5 PPC with the Altavec vector unit routinely delivers performance seen only in supercomputers not very long ago. the count of PowerPCs in the FA-22 Raptor and the Joint Strike Fighter is non-trivial. so if you wanna define "success" as "running on desktops", yup, nothing but scorched earth as far as the eye can see. if you wanna define success in terms of taking money and doing jobs well that x86 machines cannot touch, then that's another matter entirely. -mo ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on risc etc Why the Intel switch is bad David Farber (Jun 07)