A PC magazine article reviewing a new AMD processor stated " ....
with the extra instruction sets ...".

I think they intended to say " ...extra instructions..." and to me
this begs a question.

To take advantage of these new instructions, I assume compilers used
to compile operating systems and programs must be modified to support
the new instructions.

So in the short term there would be no gain using one of these
processors with current versions of windows and linux.

Also I think the review the magazine gave with regards to benchmarking
may have been biased as the software they were using was most likley
not taking advantage of the additional instructions.

Perhaps it turns out that the processor developers simply work closely
with the software developers and new versions or upgrades are good to
go at the same time as the processor is released.

Any one know how this actually goes down.

Justin
--=20
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
.