[rescue] SMP on intel wasteful?

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Wed, Jun 26, 2002 at 12:33:54PM -0700, Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez wrote:

> Note: Just to make clear.. I have nothing against vector machines. Hell I
> even have a CRAY1 manual. Is just that I got the sad feeling that these
> machines are a dying breed... maybe they are more prevalent in other
> fields, but at least in my academic architecture research env they have
> been pretty much written off. Of course now the lines are getting fuzzy
> again, as modern processors include now "vector" (I would not really call
> them that but that is what marketdroids like to call them) units. So at
> least some lessons have been learned :-).
> 
> BTW. I am a SIMD man, because the world is SIMD. :-) So I am betting my
> future on vector-like processors coming back in fashion!!!!

You mean like Altivec and SSE2?  Nobody seems to be using them to full
potential. 
 
> I guess it all comes down to how $%#%ing hard it is to compete against
> micros with their economy of scale. I hate Intel's cludge of an
> architecture.... but one has to be impressed at their fab/process research
> and capabilities.

Transmeta managed to design a chip and is selling it.  How large a
chip does one need to do a vector processor in this day and age?

Or perhaps one could design a Pixar Image Computer style machine.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd