4 ms·
What might be their motivation for this, then?
by pohl 3y ago
What might be their motivation for this, then?
- JohnBooty 3y agoIt might not make too much of a difference to software developers targeting x86, but dumping legacy crap might make Intel's job easier (and/or more profitable, because they can reclaim some die space) when it comes to implementing their future silicon.
- leoc 3y agoA cynic might wonder if it would also help to renew the Intel/AMD x86 patent moat now that the core x86-64 specification is over 20 years old. If the plan is largely just to strip things out it might be hard to shoehorn in patent claims, but I'm sure a way could be found.
- remexre 3y agoIt'd make the chips easier to design, I guess. Maybe motherboards and BIOSes too? I could imagine a more user-noticeable effect in VM cold-start times, perhaps, though I'd think physical hardware boot times would still be dominated by other things (e.g. actually loading the kernel into memory); the minimal implementation of transitioning from real mode to long mode is a few hundred instructions.
- luma 3y agoSave die space and thus reduce cost and power budgets. Potentially simplify microarch and cache management. Maybe reduce attack surface?
- chx 3y agoNah, the die space you save here is absolutely minuscule. Intel saves on the validation of core designs -- forever.