on 8/15/02 8:58 AM, Patrick Finnegan at pat_at_purdueriots.com wrote:
> Ahh, A G4. Yea, forgot about the vector processor. Of coures, in real
> life most things *I* do don't anything that'd use it. Otherwise, I think
> I'd win.
>
> This is the same reason an Astronautics ZS-1 at 25 or 33MHz could
> outperform a P-IV 1GHz for some vector ops... But most 'real-life'
> non-graphical or simulation/calculator type applications can't make
> advantage of it.
Actually, Mac OS X itself makes good use of it. Later this month, when the
latest version is released, the graphics system (Quartz) will push all
graphics tasks onto AltiVec or, if possible, the graphics processor. It
makes pretty good use AltiVec now. Which is why with all the eye-candy like
transparency and pulsating controls and such, the interface always responds
perfectly, even when the system is busy. And a lot of Mac OS X apps are
optimized for AltiVec, if they have any use for it.
--
Owen Robertson
Received on Thu Aug 15 2002 - 13:38:00 BST