Re: [gentoo-dev] x32 fun pants

[Donnie Berkholz <dberkholz@gentoo.org>]

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On 15:34 Thu 15 Sep     , Mike Frysinger wrote:
> ive converted my system over to x86/amd64/x32 multilib for funs.  but i can 
> see how some people wont want all three all the time.  so the question is how 
> we want to make this available to users at the release/profile level.
> 
> background: x32 is a new ABI that runs on 64bit x86_64 processors.  see [1].  
> you'll need gcc-4.7+, binutils-2.21.50+, glibc-2.15+, and linux-3.2+.

For anyone interested how the performance compares to amd64 in more 
comprehensive tests, check out the slides from the Linux Plumbers 
Conference (particularly 14-21):

http://linuxplumbersconf.org/2011/ocw/proposals/531

In summary, on those benchmarks it looks like a small global win (maybe 
5%) on integer calculations with a few huge wins of ≥25%, but a net loss 
around 5% pretty much globally for floating-point calculations.

Most people probably do a lot more integer calculations unless they're 
science geeks like me, plus it should have lower memory use, so my 
understanding is that it probably makes sense to switch to x32 no matter 
what you're using now (x86 or amd64).

Mike, would you agree?

-- 
Thanks,
Donnie

Donnie Berkholz
Council Member / Sr. Developer
Gentoo Linux
Blog: http://dberkholz.com

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