[geeks] examples of vector processors (vs scalar processors)
Dave McGuire
mcguire at neurotica.com
Mon Aug 5 16:42:03 CDT 2002
On August 5, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> > Several modern processors have SIMD functionality which can (somewhat
> > loosely I suppose) be called vector capabilities. .UltraSPARC VIS,
> > Pentium MMX, and PowerPC AltiVec come to mind. I believe HP's newer
> > PA-RISC processors have a similar capabilitiy but I don't know what
> > it's called offhand.
>
> Yes, but does this make them vector processors, or just scalar
> processors with minor vector units?
Well this is a good point, definitely the latter...but where do you
draw the line? I don't know of *any* processor that is a pure vector
machine without scalar capability.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire "I haven't worn pants in 14 months!"
St. Petersburg, FL -Pete Wargo
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