[ale] OT: AMD Athlon 64

[Jesse M. Holmes]

I'm reading about this processor now, and I see:
	256 Tb of memory address space.
I'm no processor buff . . . but above that it mentions that the
processor can eliminate the 4Gb limit on ram. 

<_<
>_>

I'm picturing a PC that runs the power grid for a small city.

It also says that it can run both 32bit and 64bit operating systems. I
see a lot more computers being sold (like at Sam's club, e.g.) with
64's. Do you think the majority of applications are also going to be
written for 64's in the near future, or is it going to be a while?

Jesse M. Holmes

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
To: ale at ale.org
James P. Kinney III
Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 7:38 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: AMD Athlon 64

True. Unless the CPU is a dual-core multi-GHz monster and the board only
holds 64MB RAM.

RAM is key for multiple tasks as used on most modern environments (word
processors are mostly huge ram hogs). The more you have, the "zippier"
the
system "feels".

The 8xx series Opteron chips can pass memory info "out-of-band" between
up
to 8 cpus at the same rate they can move ram into and out of cache! So
each cpu knows at any time where the needed ram is and can get it just
as
fast as if it were in the adjacent RAM bank.

Granted, SGI was doing almost this process 10 years ago and Cray was
doing
exactly this process 20 years ago. But's way cool having the equivalent
of
a 20 year old Cray is a box that fits under a desk and doesn't take a
20-ton AC unit to cool it! If only I could convince "She who must be
obeyed" that I really, really need on of those 8-way Opteron monsters...