[Tfug] AMD vs. Intel floating point

[Paul Scott]

Anthony Steckman wrote:
> Many of us at TCS run the Folding@home distributed computing software 
> and it has been shown fairly consistently that an AMD will outperform an 
> Intel of equal speed in terms of work unit output. People who seem to 
> know about these things always say it's because of the way the AMD's 
> handle floating point calculations.
> 
> I wouldn't stand by the assertion -- I hardly know what I'm asserting. I 
> can say it's at least a very well established belief in the Folding@home 
> community.

I have been told that Intel MMX shares some of its logic with the FPU 
which sometimes causes FP inefficiency.

Paul Scott