4 ms·
Are you sure? I don't have the numbers handy, but I dimly remember that, in around 1998-1999, the Alpha 21264 ran circles around Intel and AMD CPUs of the same
by gcv 18y ago
Are you sure? I don't have the numbers handy, but I dimly remember that, in around 1998-1999, the Alpha 21264 ran circles around Intel and AMD CPUs of the same era, in integer and especially floating-point performance. I'm not talking about clock speed, but SPEC benchmark results.
- SwellJoe 18y agoYes, I'm sure. The only date I specifically mentioned was 2003, which is when the last Alpha was released and the 64 bit x86 architecture became available. In 1998-1999 the Alpha was still probably in the lead on all counts except possibly price/performance. Things move fast in CPUs, and a significant lead one year can turn into a trailing position the very next.
- rbanffy 18y agoWell... By 2003 the Alpha has been more or less abandoned in terms of R&D expenditures. It's impossible to estimate how much of its perceived lack of relative performance was due to progresses in x86 designs and how much was simply due to a lack of research in progressing the architecture.