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Thread: 3DNow & MMX

  1. 10-11-2001, 06:35 AM #1
    richardbmontes
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    3DNow & MMX

    Are all AMD processors produced with 3DNow! features? How is 3Dnow different from MMX?
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  2. 10-11-2001, 10:32 PM #2
    RLT65
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    All AMD cpu's from the K6-2 and later have 3dnow and MMX.
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  3. 10-11-2001, 10:40 PM #3
    TechJumper
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    It is enhanced for that - are you talking about the new xp proc?
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  4. 10-11-2001, 11:22 PM #4
    CocoMan
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    The AMD Durons and Athlon (T-birds) have Enhanced 3dnow and mmx, while the new Palomino core Durons and Athlons also include the SSE instruction set.

    MMX and SSE in general helps to speed up games and multimedia applications and has a broader impact. 3dnow is mostly use for speeding up 3d effects.
    Last edited by CocoMan; 10-13-2001 at 02:23 AM.
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  5. 10-11-2001, 11:53 PM #5
    Petro89
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    Yep, the K6 had MMX, and everything later (including the K6-2) had both.

    My understanding has always been that MMX helped out in multimedia applications-video and sound stuff mainly, while 3Dnow was invented to allow the weak-performing FPU of the K6-2/3 to hang with Pentium2s in games.

    I don't really know what the basis of MMX was. 3Dnow allowed the CPU to alter calculations in order to make them easier and quicker. For example, the CPU would multiply by 1/4 instead of dividing by 4, as multiplication is a much quicker operation than division.

    I never really noticed a difference between MMX Pentiums and non-MMX pentiums, even at the same speed. Maybe I just didn't use any apps that would show a difference.

    3Dnow was a big help to those K6-2/3s in games, but only those that supported it.
    *K6-3+ 450@550, AOpen AX59Pro w/1MB, 256MB Mushkin Rev3, V3 2000 PCI, WD 20.5GB-7200, LG 32X, HP CDRW, ZIP 250, Muse XL

    *K6-3 400@412.5, AOpen AX5T-2, 128MB Micron PC133, Creative Banshee, WD 17GB-5400, Hitachi DVD, DXR2, Zip100, Yamaha DS-XG
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  6. 10-12-2001, 02:49 AM #6
    richardbmontes
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    It seems AMD/AThlon has these all. Does that make Pentium processors the lesser one in terms of these 3DNow, MMX, SSE features? My pentium 3 only has MMX and SSE. Are there Pentium processors with 3DNow or is it exclusive only to AMD?
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  7. 10-13-2001, 12:01 AM #7
    Petro89
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    Right, the Intel processors do not have 3dnow. They rely solely on raw FPU power. Not that the Athlon isn't strong FPU-wise, the 3dnow is just a bonus for it.
    And 3dnow doesn't help the newer processors as much as the older ones. K6-2/3s could get a 30% hike in performance when using 3dnow enhanced drivers. The athlon/t-birds get maybe 10%, at least from what I've seen.

    So I'm pretty sure it's like this...

    Pentium MMX was the first with MMX
    AMD K6 has MMX
    AMD K6-2 has MMX and 3dnow
    AMD K6-3 has MMX and 3dnow
    Pentium 2 has MMX
    Pentium 3 has MMX and SSE
    Pentium 4 has MMX, SSE, SSE2
    Athlon/T-Bird has MMX, 3dnow
    *K6-3+ 450@550, AOpen AX59Pro w/1MB, 256MB Mushkin Rev3, V3 2000 PCI, WD 20.5GB-7200, LG 32X, HP CDRW, ZIP 250, Muse XL

    *K6-3 400@412.5, AOpen AX5T-2, 128MB Micron PC133, Creative Banshee, WD 17GB-5400, Hitachi DVD, DXR2, Zip100, Yamaha DS-XG
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