[openbeos] Re: string.h
- From: Isaac Yonemoto <ityonemo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 12:45:39 -0600 (CST)
> No, it's not, it a 32 bit chip. Lot's of people seem to think it's
> 64bit though. I think people get confused with the "Velocity Engine"
> which is a 128bit vector-math processor which is part of apples G4, in
> fact that's pretty much the main difference between a G3 and a G4. It
> could (but not really) be thought of as the old 386 with the 387 math
> co-processor.
It's not even really a 128bit coprocessor, that is to say a coprocessor
with 128bit words. Really, it's a processor designed to do 4-dimensional
vector and matrix operations on 32-bit floating point. Which means, the
registers are grouped in sets of 4x32.
By the apple marchitecture logic, this is means that it's a 128bit
processor. Of course, since 3dNow! chips have 5 32-bit float pipelines
(i think), this makes them 160bit chips. People "in the know" seem to
have complained about this, so I think that's why apple has ceased calling
its G4 a "supercomputer". Though they did resurrect it with the titanium
iBook series.
Isaac
Other related posts:
