Actually, to help the render speed of POVRay, you need to increase the
FPU calculations.  AMD, CYRIX, and the other chip clones have done very
well in the integer math department, but still fall behind intel's
performance in floating point math.  

(Floating point = decimals, integer = whole numbers)

So, to get the best chip for pov, find the fastest intel chip you can
afford.  Also get some memory, this will help speed things up too.

This isn't a pro-intel argument, but an objective statement.  A DEC
Alpha (500Mhz!) should kick some serious butt, but I can't afford one
now.  It would definitely outperform an intel.

The K6-2's 3D-Now is for 3D games, just like a 3D accelerator card.  It
can draw polygons really fast, but it won't make pov crunch the math any
faster.

later, jason.


> 

> | K6-2 includes instruction sets for fast floating point calculations,
> | especially matrix transformations. They would work very well for POV
> | indeed, _however_ I'm willing to bet that they only use 32-bit
> | floating points, and I don't think that's enough.
> 
> I'm following up myself here. It seems that although 3D-NOW is only
> 32-bit, Intel's Katmai instructions will be 64-bit. Meaning it can
> do 4 FPU calculations at the same time. This could improve POV-Ray's
> speed considerably.
> 
> --
> A penny for your thoughts.
> Mine are more expensive.

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