A hack of a hack of mine is a hack of great divine?

[lazygamer]

quote:x86, a hack on a hack of a hack
alpha, the compaqed way
ppc, the fruity way
mips, the graphical way
m68k, the NeXT way
sparc, the reliable way

Ok Chaosforages, as a dedicated X86 user who will have no choice but to use X86 for well over 5 more years, we need to talk.

1)Can one of these processors be used in a common motherboard meant for X86? Is there any motherboards that can take X86 or another type of chip?

2)Is X86 an absolute piece of shit compared to these other chips?

3)Pros and cons to each listed chip.

4)How the hell can PPC be fruity? I didn't know processor chips can become "fruity".  

5)How compatible are these alternative processors for running standard PC programs? I know I can run shit from 1984 or earlier on a 433 celeron... out of Windows 98.  

6)Ok, so where does 486 end and 586 begin, at the pentium? When does 686 begin? Is there a 786? Why call it pentium instead of X86?

7)Intel VS AMD, both X86, both suck?

[flap]

quote:Is there a 786? Why call it pentium instead of X86?

Because you can trademark names, but not numbers.

[DC]

quote:Originally posted by lazygamer:
1)Can one of these processors be used in a common motherboard meant for X86? Is there any motherboards that can take X86 or another type of chip?

No  

quote: 2)Is X86 an absolute piece of shit compared to these other chips?

Yes  

quote: 5)How compatible are these alternative processors for running standard PC programs? I know I can run shit from 1984 or earlier on a 433 celeron... out of Windows 98.      

Well, they aren't. What is compiled for a x86 can't be run on those thingies.
What you can usually do is compile it on/for that other enviroment - but you'd need the sources, and it's not always possible (you can't compile the x86 Linux code for Alpha systems for example - it had to be modified first).  

quote: 6)Ok, so where does 486 end and 586 begin, at the pentium? When does 686 begin? Is there a 786? Why call it pentium instead of X86?

586 = pentium (1). Dunno when it became 686, search google    .

No, there aint a 786 yet. And there probably won't either, since proc manufacturers are switching over to 64 bit PC's in a couple of years I think.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: DC ]

[lazygamer]

quote:Well, they aren't. What is compiled for a x86 can't be run on those thingies.
What you can usually do is compile it on/for that other enviroment - but you'd need the sources, and it's not always possible (you can't compile the x86 Linux code for Alpha systems for example - it had to be modified first).

Well you'll still see me using X86 20 years from now.  

[choasforages]

i know, and i still have the right to bitch about an architicture that should ahve dead years ago. for the other stuff. you need special boards, but there is a alpha board that will fit into an atx case. i would love to have one of those. and im probably going to get one, after i get done paying for car insurence for my(almost mine) car/*just got my learners, as soon as  i get my provisonal license, tehre goes about a $1000 in us bucks atleast*/

[choasforages]

as for friuty, everyones favorite fruit company/*apple*/ uses ppc processers in there boxs. mips is the graphical way, cuase sgi uses mips alot. digital got bought out buy compaq, thats why alpha is the compaqed way. NeXT used m68k's in there boxs. sparcs are used in sun workstations, and are veryreliable. as for hardware, a lot of x86 hardware can be used with alpha machines, and with ppc ones if i am correct, owell, now everyone knows what my sig means  

[Zombie9920]

quote:Originally posted by DC:
586 = pentium (1). Dunno when it became 686, search google           .

No, there aint a 786 yet. And there probably won't either, since proc manufacturers are switching over to 64 bit PC's in a couple of years I think.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: DC ]

The AMD Athlon (K7) and Pentium 4 are both 786.

The Pentium Pro/PII/PIII/Celeron(with the exception of the P4 core Celeron)/AMD K6/Cyrix 6x86/Cyrix MII/IDT Winchip C6 were all 686. The upcoming AMD K8 will be an 886.

x86 isn't really a piece of shit because it can do something that most other architechtures can't do. It can scale to really high mhz levels(which in the end will make it faster than the competition). CPU's of other architechtures can usually do more per cycle (at an equivalent clock speed) than x86, but they just don't scale as high in clock speed.

It is hard to fairly compare different architectures because software is written differently for different architechtures. Normaly a comp with a Sparc, Alpha, IA64, etc. are used as servers only. They are not practical computing architechures because of cost.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]

[lazygamer]

X86 is also nice because it's so low cost. Let's say X86 was killed years ago, would a really good non-X86 cost about the same as it's X86 equivalent? So top of the line P4 is probably $500 Canadian, would a top of the line non-X86 chip(in a non-X86 world) cost $500 Canadian?

[Zombie9920]

quote:Originally posted by lazygamer:
X86 is also nice because it's so low cost. Let's say X86 was killed years ago, would a really good non-X86 cost about the same as it's X86 equivalent? So top of the line P4 is probably $500 Canadian, would a top of the line non-X86 chip(in a non-X86 world) cost $500 Canadian?

Heck no. CPUs of different architectures(Like IA64, Sparc, Alpha) can costs thousands of dollars for the CPU alone. I think it is like $3500+ USD for a 733mhz Itanium CPU right now, I don't know about the cost of the other CPUs because I haven't researched them or anything. I know they are pricey also.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]

[voidmain]

But sold in much higher quantities RISC chips can cost much less than x86.  RISC chips are far less complex and have a fraction of the circuits (hence run cooler and draw less power also). You'll also find lower end RISC chips in laser printers and the like...

[choasforages]

i can get a 500mhz dec box, which is about 500mhz below the fastest dec box out. for like 300 or so

[choasforages]

actally, i can buy a half decent machine from sun, for about $1000. granted its nothing like and e10k or a sunfire 15k or anything ,but it will get the job done. one of my projects will probably involve one/*that the other guy pays for*/