Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!dkuug!freja.diku.dk!njk From: njk@diku.dk (Niels J|rgen Kruse) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: 64 bits--why stop there? Message-ID: <1990Sep3.141411.15993@diku.dk> Date: 3 Sep 90 14:14:11 GMT References: <41188@mips.mips.COM> <1990Aug31.174957.9612@cimage.com> <1990Sep1.062535.7541@rice.edu> Organization: Department Of Computer Science, University Of Copenhagen Lines: 15 preston@titan.rice.edu (Preston Briggs) writes: >Alternatively, we could take a Cray-style approach. 64 x 64 bit registers. >That's it, no subdivisions. Memory is addressable in 64-bit chunks. >Saves addressing bits, shifts, unaligned access traps, register >specification bits, massive hardware, and massive software. Of course, >it costs memory (64 bits per char), but that's cheaper every day. Ehrrrm. Memory *bytes* are certainly getting cheaper, but are memories? If you are considering wasting X bytes of memory, the price of a memory byte is what matters. If you are considering wasting X % of memory, the price of all of memory is what should concern you. -- Niels J|rgen Kruse DIKU Graduate njk@diku.dk