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Practically x86 processors since a few generations back have been internally running on a smaller RISC-like microcode core. The x86 layer is there mostly for th
by yason 15y ago
Practically x86 processors since a few generations back have been internally running on a smaller RISC-like microcode core. The x86 layer is there mostly for the dreaded compatibility (and to prevent compilers from optimizing directly into any RISC code ;))
- ikono 15y agoIs Intel's microcode core better than other competing RISC cores? Is it really that Intel's process is that much better? It seems like it's unanimously the best, but it can't explain everything can it? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this. It almost feels like Intel has simply added a layer of abstraction. It isn't clear to me that this is a bad thing. Intel has the flexibility of changing that microcode core as they please without worrying about the need for everything to be recompiled if they think of a better implementation with a different instruction set. For very specialized low power devices ARM makes sense. For more complex systems I'm not so sure. You see a strong movement in software towards increasing levels of abstraction. Why would hardware be different? Is that a fair assessment of the situation? Or am I missing something?