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AMD could, as easily if not more so, be the one to show up with a native RISC-V processor that has a legacy x86 mode. In the modern landscape, it'd be closer t

by snvzz 4y ago

AMD could, as easily if not more so, be the one to show up with a native RISC-V processor that has a legacy x86 mode. In the modern landscape, it'd be closer to a v86 mode, where the hypervisor is RISC-V, but user x86 applications can run full speed. All the legacy PC platform crap can be done away, replaced by RISC-V standard OS-A profile.

hkgjjgjfjfjfjf 4y ago
[dead]
als0 4y ago
Why would AMD do that today though? They are in a privileged position to have an x86 license and zillions of customers asking for an x86. AMD once made some ARM chips and realised they didn’t need to.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  Agreed. The only reason I can think of for AMD to set up an alternative instruction set would be a sudden rise in competition from other players. If big advances are made in the RISC-V space that make the architecture a cost effective alternative to amd64 (including the cost of porting software to RISC-V) then I can see them setting themselves up to allow running software on both platforms at native speeds. I don't think AMD is currently limited by their instruction set. Even if they are, there may be an argument to move to ARM instead of RISC-V to take advantage of the software already ported because of Apple's transition and the Graviton chips. Windows already runs on ARM but hasn't been announced to run on RISC-V, after all.
  - snvzz 4y ago
    >would be a sudden rise in competition from other players. This is exactly what I see happening. AMD will have to move to RISC-V to stay competitive, and x86 acceleration is a compelling feature they can offer. >Windows already runs on ARM but hasn't been announced to run on RISC-V, after all. I doubt this one will be an issue for long. During last summit, in talks by the RISC-V foundation itself (specifically, the technical ones about ongoing ISA work), Windows was mentioned a few times as the reasoning for some new specifications. This strongly implies Microsoft is working on Windows for RISC-V, even if Microsoft themselves haven't said a word about it.
    - als0 4y ago
      > This is exactly what I see happening. AMD will have to move to RISC-V to stay competitive The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
pedrocr 4y ago
Does the core area math check out on that? Is the x86 instruction decoding area a small enough part of today's cores that having a chip that includes both a RISC-V decoder and a x86 one not a big penalty? It's also not clear that would be a gain for AMD. x86 has a lot of lock-in and AMD is one of two viable suppliers of it. Helping along a RISC-V transition would create opportunities for attackers that don't need to license x86. AMD doesn't seem to have a reason for that right now. But maybe that's an Innovator's Dilemma kind of situation and they should be cannibalizing the present to setup their future.

by snvzz 4y ago

hkgjjgjfjfjfjf 4y ago

[dead]

als0 4y ago

Why would AMD do that today though? They are in a privileged position to have an x86 license and zillions of customers asking for an x86. AMD once made some ARM chips and realised they didn’t need to.

jeroenhd 4y ago
Agreed. The only reason I can think of for AMD to set up an alternative instruction set would be a sudden rise in competition from other players. If big advances are made in the RISC-V space that make the architecture a cost effective alternative to amd64 (including the cost of porting software to RISC-V) then I can see them setting themselves up to allow running software on both platforms at native speeds. I don't think AMD is currently limited by their instruction set. Even if they are, there may be an argument to move to ARM instead of RISC-V to take advantage of the software already ported because of Apple's transition and the Graviton chips. Windows already runs on ARM but hasn't been announced to run on RISC-V, after all.
- snvzz 4y ago
  >would be a sudden rise in competition from other players. This is exactly what I see happening. AMD will have to move to RISC-V to stay competitive, and x86 acceleration is a compelling feature they can offer. >Windows already runs on ARM but hasn't been announced to run on RISC-V, after all. I doubt this one will be an issue for long. During last summit, in talks by the RISC-V foundation itself (specifically, the technical ones about ongoing ISA work), Windows was mentioned a few times as the reasoning for some new specifications. This strongly implies Microsoft is working on Windows for RISC-V, even if Microsoft themselves haven't said a word about it.
  - als0 4y ago
    > This is exactly what I see happening. AMD will have to move to RISC-V to stay competitive The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5.

pedrocr 4y ago

Does the core area math check out on that? Is the x86 instruction decoding area a small enough part of today's cores that having a chip that includes both a RISC-V decoder and a x86 one not a big penalty? It's also not clear that would be a gain for AMD. x86 has a lot of lock-in and AMD is one of two viable suppliers of it. Helping along a RISC-V transition would create opportunities for attackers that don't need to license x86. AMD doesn't seem to have a reason for that right now. But maybe that's an Innovator's Dilemma kind of situation and they should be cannibalizing the present to setup their future.