[PD] Pd sounds better than Max?

[Robert Scott]

On Sunday 09 March 2008 19:59, Charles Henry wrote:
> Pd for 64-bit processors could potentially redefine t_sample as
> a double, with no loss in performance (with nearly twice as much memory
> usage).

Mmmmmno...

It just so happens that x87s always compute a double, so it makes little 
difference there. What you're forgetting is that if you're using SIMD (for 
example SSE2) using doubles means you can only fit two samples into a vector 
register instead of four. Half the throughput. On top of that, if you check 
instruction tables, packed double instructions have a slightly higher latency 
than packed singles. For the core2 at least.

Not everything (even 64bit) uses an x87.


robert.