Zeroing out a CPU register seems like the simplest and most basic operation imaginable, but in fact x86 CPUs contain a surprising amount of special logic to make this operation run smoothly. The most obvious way of zeroing an x86 … Continue reading
A few months ago I wrote about some experiments to see how fast modern CPUs are at doing high-precision math such as is used in cryptography and high-precision fractal calculations. I recently read an article that claimed that out-of-order processors … Continue reading
There was some recent interest in what type of computer would run Fractal eXtreme’s deep zoom calculations fastest (and cheapest) so I wrote a benchmarking tool that isolates the inner calculations for more accurate measurements and arranged to have it … Continue reading
Years ago I wrote a program that would dynamically measure the speed of my CPU. It would record the current number of CPU clock ticks with __rdtsc() (the C/C++ intrinsic for the rdtsc instruction), then wait some period of time … Continue reading
