glen herrmannsfeldt wrote:

E wrote:

(snip)

Although Intel currently has there own IA-64 architecture, this is aimed
at the server market, and from what I have read, if Intel wants to go 64
bit, Microsoft wants Intel to get a license to implement AMD x86-64
architecture. But Intel also has Hyperthreading in there Xeon and Pentium
4 lines, and will have a more improved version in the Prescott
core, which may help in multitasking. But like AMD's 64 bit solution,
don't individual applications need to be written and compiled with the
new optimizations in mind, in order to gain any benefit?

There is a discussion in one of these newsgroups on the need for
64 bit at all. While I do know a few applications for them, they
are relatively rare.

Multimedia and games. If they are compiled for x86-64 and ported to Linux,
then we might have something. I don't think there is anything wrong with
running proprietary closed source applications on Linux or BSD.


Remember, though, when the 386 and 486 first came out, and they were
mostly used to run 16 bit DOS applications. Usually they were faster,
which was for some enough reason to buy one. Will x86-64 be enough
faster to buy it for 32 bit code?

Hyperthreading, like multiple processors, should benefit normal programs
when more than one are running at once, or when an OS program needs
to run. That is assuming that the OS supports it.

Yes, and I was wondering if individual applications like games and video
editing could some how benefit from a dual processor system or a
Hyperthreading CPU, if written and compiled to use Hypertreading.