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:Since my original note, someone from digital has informed me that it is the
:Alpha 21164 EV56 chip that supports these byte and word instructions.
Starting in OpenVMS Alpha V7.0, emulation is available on those Alpha
microprocessors that do not support byte and word instructions. And
in V7.1, this emulation support is enabled by default. UNIX also has
emulation for these instructions.
If you are an infrequent user of byte-word instructions, you likely
won't notice the emulation...
:Which Alpha (server) models uses this ev56 CPU
:
:1 1000A 300 MHz? 333 MHz? 400 MHz???
:
:2 2000/2100A 250 MHz? 300 MHz? (375 MHz???)
:
:3 4000/4100 All ????????????????????
400 MHz and up is likely the EV56 variant -- there is some overlap
of EV5 and EV56 in the 300 to 400 MHz speed range, and presently
no easy way to differentiate EV5 from EV56 exists in the Systems
and Options Catalog or other material. (The latter is sometimes
refered to as the `21164A'.)
:Can it be said that the models with EV56 CPU's is a better long term
:investment eg. a better buy for custemers ????
We've been announcing new implementations of the Alpha Microprocessor
since the original introduction of Alpha back in late 1992. With the
historical trend toward new microprocessor generations arising at
intervals of under two years... (EV4 used CMOS-4, EV5 uses CMOS-5,
and EV56 is a variant of the EV5 design using CMOS-6, a six-layer
CMOS design.) Historically, one typically sees only two "generations"
of a particular microprocessor around -- the current, and the immediately
previous...
Most folks have historically viewed the newest and fastest microprocessors
(or systems) in a series as the most desirable, while the older and slower
members are viewed as somewhat less desirable...
As to "better long term investment", I'll need to locate my crystal ball
before I even consider making that particular prediction...
:PS! DEC is talking about a 21264 PC chip with some kind of MMX instructions
: is that chip expected to be used in OpenVMS/UNIX systems.??????
We cannot comment on future plans or on any (potential or actual)
unannounced systems.
And for some of the potential/future microprocessor chips Digital
has discussed at Microprocessor Forum, see...
http://www.digital.com/info/semiconductor/whatsnew.htm
...and the first to articles there are:
http://www.digital.com/info/semiconductor/a264up1/index.html
http://www.digital.com/info/semiconductor/mvi/index.html
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