What will happen to MAME when...

[DeathMonk]

When every CPU will be on the new 64-bit architecture?  Supposedly, these processors are going to be backward compatible, but what about optimization?  Do you see the MAME dev's going through all the drivers to make them compliant with the new cpu's?  Do I even know what i'm talking about?

[SirPoonga]

Actually, intel is doing it the smart way.  I havne't looked at AMD's 64bit.

Anyway, mame doesn't do much direct memory addressing, especially in the windows version.  That's what makes windows and directx cool.  You don't have to talk to the hardware directly, you let the OS do that.  So there really wouldn;t be much change to mame.  Just recompile in a 64bit compiler.

I did converting of test tools for IBM form 32bit to 64bit.  It wasn't hard ont he intel procs.  I hardly had to change a thing.  What you get out of the 64bit proc is larger memory addresses and larger storage options.  There isn't much else to gain from it.  An integer is still and integer.  There will probably be a new super huge integer being 64bits long.  But the standard integer is still just 32bits in a 64bit system.

[Odonadon]

Actually, intel is doing it the smart way.  I havne't looked at AMD's 64bit.

Anyway, mame doesn't do much direct memory addressing, especially in the windows version.  That's what makes windows and directx cool.  You don't have to talk to the hardware directly, you let the OS do that.  So there really wouldn;t be much change to mame.  Just recompile in a 64bit compiler.

I did converting of test tools for IBM form 32bit to 64bit.  It wasn't hard ont he intel procs.  I hardly had to change a thing.  What you get out of the 64bit proc is larger memory addresses and larger storage options.  There isn't much else to gain from it.  An integer is still and integer.  There will probably be a new super huge integer being 64bits long.  But the standard integer is still just 32bits in a 64bit system.

So basically no performance benefits even if MAME was 100% 64-bit compliant?  I guess a 64bit word is still a word, only longer.

In fact, wouldn't MAME be better off in a 32bit environment pumped up with RAM?

Odonadon

[DeathMonk]

Doesnt that mean that MAME/CPU would be able to process 64-bits of information in one clock cycle instead of 32?  That sounds like it could speed things up to me...

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[Odonadon]

Doesnt that mean that MAME/CPU would be able to process 64-bits of information in one clock cycle instead of 32?  That sounds like it could speed things up to me...

?

Yes, but if MAME is programmed to utilize the 32-bit architecture, it won't matter one bit.  A 32-bit CPU needs only half the memory a 64-bit CPU would to hold a given program.  But, it would indeed be slower to process.  The advantage would be for memory - of which MAME needs more than raw MHz.

Odonadon

Edit: Please, somebody correct me if I'm wrong.  I am not a programmer

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, what you all said is pretty much true.

Like I said, if programmed for 64bit there will be some performance, like memory access.  But onyl a small percentage of the code will benefit from it.  64bit is really needed as memory and storage gets larger and larger.

64bit isn't new, just in the x86 world it is.

[Lilwolf]

what mame REALLY could use that would speed it up would be all the extra registers.  ESPECIALLY if the cores where rewritten to utilize them (keep all original cpu registers in their own register...  So no need to push/poping the registers).  But don't expect this to happen soon.

I personally LOVE AMD... but I wouldn't buy one of the 64bit processors for a year or so.