Steven Bosscher wrote:
It obviously doesn't do that. ICC uses that larger register file, too, for x86-64.
The Intel compiler can be set to compile for multiple processors, keeping different versions of the same function in an executable and picking which code to run based on the processor in use. Thus it is quite possible to compile code (with Intel) on an Opteron, but have it sereptitiously run using a lesser instruction and register set.
AMD's Opteron (AMD64) and Intel's Nocona (EM64T-cheap-ass-AMD64-clone) are both just implementations of the x86-64 architecture. And ICC is tuned for EM64T, I would guess. GCC is tuned for AMD64.
Yes, I'm aware of that. Which makes me suspicious of any benchmark that uses Intel's "EM64T tuned" compiler on the Opteron. -- Scott Robert Ladd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Coyote Gulch Productions http://www.coyotegulch.com
