VAX had a CRC instruction. While it might seem flippant to compare VAX to x86, it was found (on VAX) that a programmer could potentially get better aggregate p

VAX had a CRC instruction. While it might seem flippant to compare VAX to x86, it was found (on VAX) that a programmer could potentially get better aggregate performance by avoiding that instruction; that having an instruction doesn't automatically mean that the code is faster.