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News AMD retires 3DNow!

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Sifter3000, 20 Aug 2010.

  1. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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    Sifter3000, 20 Aug 2010
    #1
  2. Omnituens

    Omnituens What's a Dremel?

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    If an old game was hard coded to use this intruction set, will it no longer work?

    I hate it when games are coded like that - DoW II springs to mind, you HAVE to have a page file or it just craps out :(
     
    Omnituens, 20 Aug 2010
    #2
  3. crazyceo

    crazyceo What's a Dremel?

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    Isn't this just an evolutionary process by AMD and a replacement will be on the cards? I know it's speculation and if it did have something on the cards, it would have been "leaked" by the AMD pr machine already. Let's just hope they've changed their crappy practices and will be launching an alternative.

    I remember MMX coming out. All the high street retailers got rid of all the hardware without MMX before Christmas and then released all the new gear in the following new year. I remember watchdog going nuts about it on BBC1.
     
    crazyceo, 20 Aug 2010
    #3
  4. Elledan

    Elledan What's a Dremel?

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    3DNow! was basically AMD's version of MMX. I haven't heard of anyone using it over SSE the last years, or at all during the past ten.

    Everything seems to be about SSE and derived versions now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_SIMD_Extensions#Later_versions

    3DNow Professional is the name used for the modern-day API, which has the feature set of SSE1 through 3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DNow!

    I guess since SSE and 3DNow were using the same functional units on the CPU anyway, it didn't appear to have any real relevance to AMD any longer.
     
    Elledan, 20 Aug 2010
    #4
  5. runadumb

    runadumb What's a Dremel?

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    I didn't know 3Dnow was still around. Haven't heard anything about it in years. Ah man, this brings me back
     
    runadumb, 20 Aug 2010
    #5
  6. thehippoz

    thehippoz What's a Dremel?

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    yeah old school.. it worked well back in quake 2
     
    thehippoz, 20 Aug 2010
    #6
  7. Er-El

    Er-El Minimodder

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    Just concentrate on SSE5, AMD.
     
    Er-El, 20 Aug 2010
    #7
  8. Kúsař

    Kúsař regular bit-tech reader

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    AFAIK the last game engine which uses 3DNow is Id tech 4. Guys at Id software always did a good job of optimizing their games...
     
    Kúsař, 20 Aug 2010
    #8
  9. b5k

    b5k What's a Dremel?

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    No one optimizes for hardware like id Software optimize for hardware!
     
    b5k, 20 Aug 2010
    #9
  10. Narishma

    Narishma What's a Dremel?

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    I don't think there's any such game. It would mean the game would only work on AMD processors and I don't think there's any developer stupid enough to do such a thing.
     
    Narishma, 20 Aug 2010
    #10
  11. alwayssts

    alwayssts What's a Dremel?

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    Fixed.
     
    alwayssts, 20 Aug 2010
    #11
  12. iwod

    iwod What's a Dremel?

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    That is nearly 100 instruction gone. I wonder how many transistors will it save.
    SSE has 70, SSE2 has 144, SSE3 has 13. SSSE has 16, and SSE has 47. And with AVX we get another 100+

    That is 390+ left.

    Does that mean Bobcat wont have 3D Now and MMX? ( Great News )
     
    iwod, 21 Aug 2010
    #12
  13. Adnoctum

    Adnoctum Kill_All_Humans

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    Other sites are reporting that AMD is saying that any program that needs 3DNow! are still supported by the SSE extensions, so there will be no difference for the user.
     
    Adnoctum, 21 Aug 2010
    #13
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