[ODE] CULLIDE vs OPCODE

[Sam Hale]

 >Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't that why there's all these vector
 >processing extensions in modern consumer CPUs?
 >
 >James

There certainly are such instructions. Unfortunately, the actual number of 
math pipelines falls short. Having vector processing instructions and 
having the multiple pipelines to use them efficiently are not the same 
thing. I believe an AMD Athlon XP has six math pipes, and I can't imagine 
an Intel P4 has much more, if any. A CS301 is a good example of what I 
would considder a vector processor. Unfortunately, that isn't priced for 
consumers, either.

GPU makers like to have press releases about how many vertex, texture, and 
lighting pipelines they've put in their latest offerings. As the pipes are 
specialized, a GPGPU program probably won't use all of them.

 >True, true...but do you really think Intel isn't just as interested at 
providing dual processor machines that can >achieve high througput on the 
host in the same time frame?

You mean the $800 per CPU Xeons? :)
The only MP boards in reach of consumers right now are Athlon MP and Apple 
dual G5s. There is also the problem that most software is written with a 
single thread of execution. Multi-threading is getting more popular, but 
not much. Multi-processing apps are even rarer. There is a long standing 
industry problem that hardware vendors say there aren't enough SMP capable 
apps to warrant wasting money on making companents and software vendors say 
there aren't enough SMP rigs out there to warrant wasting money on the 
apps. Think chicken-and-egg here.

If I have to hijack a GPU to get a second processor in my machine, I will. 
:-P~~

-Sam H