[geeks] New Itanium machines from SGI

[Dan Sikorski]

On Wed, 2003-01-08 at 23:53, Chris Byrne wrote:
<snip some good food>
> But the thing is those things are relatively easy to do, VS changin the
> way we program and the way our processors work which are both rather
> difficult. Basically what Ive described is similar in concept to the way
> a mainframe works, only taken to its hopefully logical extreme. 
> 
> It also creates a decentralized system where the CPU itself is no longer
> the most important factor in performance. Which was kind of the point
> ;-)

The one thing about this whole system that you describe that sticks out
in my mind is that it seems the EXACT OPPOSITE of where PC's are headed
now.  Consider the USB mouse.  At least from what i've seen, a USB
pointing device will use more CPU than a PS2 mouse, some IDE controllers
(especially IDE RAID) do more in software than they do in hardware. 
Software RAID is a perfect example, i know a guy (whom i disagree with
on this point) that is convinced that hardware RAID is a waste of money
because that money you spent on the controller would be better spent on
a faster CPU to do it in software.  Sound cards are another example. 
I've used machines that have significant spikes in CPU usage when a
sound is played.

Now, i'll admit that i'm picking more on the low-end PC's with the
above, and that it's not the emachines that are leading the way in the
PC industry, but it's more a mentality thing than anything.  Why have a
motherboard with integrated sound, video, network or IDE/SCSI?  Because
it's CHEAPER.  Why have a plastic case instead of metal?  Why have IDE? 
Why don't more PC's have 64bit 66mhz PCI yet?

What you're talking about is decentralization, when the PC industry
continues to move more towards centralization.  Because in their mind,
they have a fast processor, what else do they need?

	-Dan Sikorski