[dorkbotpdx-blabber] Buying a laptop

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

On Thu, 2008-08-14 at 11:21 -0400, markgross at thegnar.org wrote:
> > On Wed, 2008-08-13 at 20:41 -0700, dan p wrote:
> >> as someone who gets paid by the the other side, why AMD?
> >
> > Because they're less expensive. Because all my other machines are AMD.
> > Because their tuning package is free and Intel's is $700. 3DNow.
> 
> AMD has a tuning package?  What is in it?

developer.amd.com. The package is called CodeAnalyst. It runs on Windows
and Linux, but I've only used the Linux version. They also have a nice
math library (although I use ATLAS and FFTW instead). I don't think they
have a compiler, but as far as I've been able to tell, gcc is only a few
tweaks short of the Intel compilers on most things. They do have their
own version of gcc, I think.

> 
> AFAIK the intel compiler, vTune, SEP, threading toolkit, Intel Performance
> primitives, are value items that AMD has no response too.
> 
> Additionally I'm pretty sure they are all available free for
> non-commercial use.

gcc, oprofile and systemtap, as well as the Linux kernel, are available
free for commercial use too. You just can't un-free them. ;)

> 
> http://www3.intel.com/cd/software/products/asmo-na/eng/download/eval/219690.htm
> 
> http://www3.intel.com/cd/software/products/asmo-na/eng/download/eval/219771.htm
> 
> 
> 
> 3DNow?  isn't that just warmed over SSE2/MMX branding bs?  What you really
> want to say is that you want to use higher end AMD or Nvidea discreet
> graphics without open source drivers under windows.  (which is a fine
> thing if gaming is important to you)

Well now ... I don't appreciate being told what I really want to say one
bit! It's a paradox that I live a few miles from the largest Intel
installation in North America and the only working Intel processor I
have is a 133 MHz Pentium MMX in a Toshiba Libretto that hasn't been
booted up in five years. I'm sure if Intel paid my salary, I wouldn't
have an AMD processor in the house. :) 

Don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against Intel. They make fine
processors, and for some applications, they'll run rings around AMD. And
I'll be the first to admit that AMD dropped the ball on Barcelona big
time. But the extra speed of a Core 2 Duo over an Athlon64 X2 isn't
enough on what *I* do to justify the extra price tag.

By the way, I'm not a gamer. I have an nVidia graphics card because it
came with my motherboard. And I run the binary Linux drivers from nVidia
rather than the open source ones because I use ggobi
(http://www.ggobi.org). And -- I'm guessing my next "high-end" machine
isn't going to be an Intel *or* an AMD. I really want a "Cell"
machine. :)


> 
> I'm a long time Intel employee so you can call me a fanboy if you like,
> but AMD having a tuning package that is worth a crap is something I will
> have to see to believe.

Why bother? You've got vTune and icc/ifc and the Intel math libraries.
You don't *need* to make AMD chips run fast. I do.
> 
> --mgross
> 
> 
> 
> >
> > --
> > M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
> > ruby-perspectives.blogspot.com
> >
> > "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems." --
> > Alfréd Rényi via Paul Erdős
> >
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> >
> 
-- 
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
ruby-perspectives.blogspot.com

"A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems." --
Alfréd Rényi via Paul Erdős