Re: is Vax adressing sane today

mitchalsup@aol.com (MitchAlsup1) writes:

In my opinion, DEC was caught at an ugly time for them. They did not
have the transistor budget for a GBOoO implementation at exactly the
time they also needed a clean transition to 64-bits (even more trans-
istors). DEC did have the transistors for a medium OoO implementation
but unlikely the 64-bit transition.

For the K8 the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit was reported to have cost
5%.  You were there.  Are the reports wrong?

The Pentium Pro has a die size of 306mm^2 in 0.5um and 196mm^2 in
0.35um according to <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Pentium_Pro>
(it's interesting that Intel produced a 0.6um, 0.5um, and 0.35um
version; apparently their lock into a specific process for a chip came
only later).

The 64-bit OoO R10000 has a die size of 298mm^2 in 0.35um (but it was
a RISC).

DEC could fabricate the 299mm^2 21164 in 0.5um, and then the 21164a
with 209mm^2 in 0.35um (in 1996), and the 21264 with 314mm^2 in 0.35um
(in 1998).

An OoO VAX should be possible in 0.35um, maybe not 4-wide as the
R10000 and the 21264, but supporting three simple or three uops from
one complex instruction per cycle like the Pentium Pro.

- anton
--
'Anyone trying for "industrial quality" ISA should avoid undefined behavior.'
  Mitch Alsup, <c17fcd89-f024-40e7-a594-88a85ac10d20o@googlegroups.com>