Omfg

[Makatiel]

/em tries to catch his breath

You have gotta look at this..

http://www.a1-electronics.co.uk/AMD_Section/CPUs/Hammer_Review.shtml

If you even remotely give a damn about computers and how fast they can go you HAVE to read this..

Memory controler integrated into the CPU? OMG..
/em wipes sweat off his brow

I think I am gonna pass out..

[Rizzo]

Read about this a couple of weeks ago on AnandTech. They have a couple of very good artices about the Hammer line, and there is a bit in their latest VIA interview about VIA's thoughts on the new processors and what it means for motherboard manafactures.

By the looks of things it will be very fast, but will need a 64bit OS to take real advantage.

[Makatiel]

Oh, it's a good 6 - 12 months in the future before a sort of complete model is even completed for testing. From what I read both Intel and AMD are having trouble with their .13 Micron Manufacturing process at the moment.

The thing that strikes me is that it will support a "legacy mode" that will make it backwards compatible with 32 Bit OS's... I am sure though that there are plenty of people out here right now, working on a 64bit OS to take advantage of the new chip..

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Makatiel
... I am sure though that there are plenty of people out here right now, working on a 64bit OS to take advantage of the new chip..

IBM has been talking about a 64-bit Unix for 4 years now. They were pushing their RS6000 chipset in that direction about the time the bottom dropped out of desktop unix. Since that time the product group has apparently become pretty much server oriented. (But that's not a suprise for IBM.) The idea was that the OS could run code compiled in 32bit right along side of 64bit compiled code.

It's not clear how the mode switch happens. The AMD long mode would certainly have 32bit instructions, but apparently they wouldn't be able to run existing x86 code directly but would expect a recompile of all applications. Maybe I'm misreading this, though.

I don't think a 64bit OS for the desktop market will happen soon.

[Rizzo]

Intel have a 64bit processors allready (don't ask me the name). There are allready 64-bit OS available. I think AMD are going to be the people to bring 64-bit to dekstop though. They might not be the first, but they have gotten the ball rolling. People are talking about 64-bit allready, and the Hammer line is over a year away.

[Makatiel]

Not quite over a year anymore.. They are talking First Or Second Quarter FY2003, so we should see news start rolling out on it around June or so.. You figure they taunted us with the Palomino core for 6 months or so before the XP was actually released..

There's still a lot of speculation about it though, and I doubt we will know anything for sure until AMD holds another press conference about it (Similar to the one they held for the Palomino a few months before release)..

[Rizzo]

I get most of my info off AnandTech. They are generally quite quick to annouce things, and have detailed looks at stuff when they know about it. I find it better than TomsHardware. The only probelm I have with AnandTech is they have crap forums (loads of clever people to talk to though).

[Makatiel]

I get a lot of my news from A1 Electronics.. They are usually pretty quick and get REALLY technical into things, which i like..