From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Jan 15 17:33:07 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id RAA07977 for hackers-outgoing; Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:33:07 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from allegro.lemis.com (allegro.lemis.com [192.109.197.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA07965 for ; Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:32:44 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from grog@lemis.com) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by allegro.lemis.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA00857; Fri, 16 Jan 1998 12:00:59 +1030 (CST) Received: (from grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.8.8/8.8.7) id MAA05015; Fri, 16 Jan 1998 12:00:59 +1030 (CST) (envelope-from grog) Message-ID: <19980116120059.60836@lemis.com> Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 12:00:59 +1030 From: Greg Lehey To: khansen@njcc.com Cc: Archie Cobbs , freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: what does MMX mean? References: <199801142355.PAA05051@bubba.whistle.com> <34BE41EE.E3B@njcc.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.84e In-Reply-To: <34BE41EE.E3B@njcc.com>; from Ken Hansen on Thu, Jan 15, 1998 at 12:05:50PM -0500 Organization: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk On Thu, Jan 15, 1998 at 12:05:50PM -0500, Ken Hansen wrote: > Hello, > MMX processors have new instructions (over "classic" pentiums) > and have increased on-chip caches (32K instead of 16K IIRC). > > In my *opinion*, an MMX processor is probably worth the price > difference, even if you don't use the additional instructions. > > Also, when MMX is used by a non-Intel mfg., it may not mean > the on-chip cache is 32K, that may just be an Intel-specific feature. MMX really only refers to the instructions, not the cache size. It stands for "Multimedia Extensions". The instructions in question do clever things like 8 parallel 8-bit arithmetic operations on a single word, which can be of advantage in graphics rendering. Greg