A few more observations:

Regarding the "small percentage" of users who stand to benefit from any
3DNow! optimizations, let me remind people that intel will be rolling out
their MMX2 instruction set as of Q1 1999, and it too will have the same
kinds of SIMD FP instructions as the 3DNow! set has today.  Also, CPUs with
3DNow! will also be produced by Cyrix and IDT/Centaur.  Eight to twelve
months from now, every new x86 compatible processor sold will have these
capabilities.

It seems prudent to start optimizing for the K6-2 platform now, so that when
MMX2 becomes available the majority of the "grunt-work" will already have
been completed, leaving only the fine tuning to be done.  Lets face it,
regardless of whether it's 3DNow! or MMX2 or some sort of extended MVI for
Alpha, the basic mechanics of the interface will probably remain consistent.

Besides, I own a K6-2-300, and the potential to realize a two to four times
increase in FP performance just makes me foam at the mouth... :)  I'll start
looking into what might be required to do this (although my programming
skills are a little rusty - this'll be a good refresher)  Anyone who wishes
to help can contact me at rli### [at] pipcomcom

Also, you don't actually need a 100MHz FSB mainboard to run a K6-2-300.  It
will run quite happily with a 66MHz FSB and a 4.5 multiplier.  Certainly
your overall system performance will suffer but programs like POV, which
have a very tight execution loop that has been (hopefully) optimized to stay
within the 16 to 32KB of on-chip cache, won't care about that.  66x4.5 (or
75x4) should yield 95% of the performance of 100x3 in this case.  POV is
nice that way...

The 2.2volt requirement is a little more tricky, but most newer boards (even
the low cost ones) will go as low as 2.1 volts now.  On the whole
(especially if the 3DNow! instruction set can be utilized for a perfomance
gain in POV) the K6-2 would probably give the best bang for your buck.
Also, wouldn't you like that new 500MHz intel katmai processor to REALLY
scream by using MMX2 in addition to its raw horsepower?

Rik Ling
Graphics Lurker (and K6 defender)
rli### [at] pipcomcom

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