[PD] 64 bit PD

[ba]

I'm thinking about assembling a new system for Pure Data.  What processor 
would you recommend?  I was thinking about a P4 3.0 ghz with 800 FSB, or 
athlon 3200 or 64 3200.  it seems the 64 will just run in emulation mode for 
now, until pd is rewritten (if ever) for the 64 bit machines.  I heard the P4s 
have really good memory bandwidth, but that the athlons can be just as fast.  
any preferences?

>===== Original Message From chris clepper <cgc at humboldtblvd.com> =====
On Sep 6, 2004, at 7:38 PM, thewade wrote:
>
> int=16bits

Integers are 32 bits on 32 bit machines.  A short would be 16 bits.
Most machines bit depth is determined by the actual size of the
registers used for processing, and most of the time that's only for
integers.  Common desktop CPUs have had 64 bit floating point units and
128 bit vector units for some time now.

> There might in the future be something like write combining where two
> sets of 32 bit values are combined, as it takes just one cpu cycle to
> move 64 bits as opposed to two cycles for normal x86 machines.

By 'move' do you mean process calculations on the CPU?  You would be
describing SIMD and really bad MMX style SIMD at that.  Modern CPUs
have 128 bit wide vector units like Altivec and SSE which are fantastic
if actually used.

If you mean 'move' as in load into the CPU from a memory location then
that's already covered as most CPUs fetch at least 64 bits of data (8
bytes) or more at once.  This has both good implications for streaming
media like video and not so good implications for pure random access
functions like databases.

> Thats
> what Im hopeing for. Id really like to be able to do some serious
> synthsis while doing hardcore realtime video processing using Gem.
>
> I can do one or the other with my old laptop... Just not both. Too
> many dropouts.

You need more processors pure and simple.  It's just not a realistic
expectation to have two completely separate time intensive and
sensitive tasks running on the same physical CPU.  Dual CPUs or better
yet multiple machines solve your problem today.

cgc


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