🚀 go-pugleaf

davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) writes:

>  Is the P5 really going to be faster than the 486 (a) at the same clock
>speed, and (b) running 486 code?

>  I don't expect an answer, Intel suddenly tells me they "don't comment
>on unannounced products," even though we have done non-disclosure with
>them before, and are probably covered under another product agreement I
>can't mention.

Can you conceive of any reason why Intel would *bother* to produce a P5
processor if it *didn't* run 486 code (which is all that will be available
for it to run intially) faster than a 486 running at the same clock speed?

Of course it is perfectly possible that recompilation would be necessary
in order to take full advantage of the new processor - as Guy Harris pointed
out a superscalar version of the 486 would show a performance gain at the
same clock speed but would require recompilation to get the optimal instruction
sequences.