All: Intel Finishes Beta Of Katmai
Processor Instructions
(05/07/98; 10:34 a.m. ET)
By Anthony Cataldo, EE Times
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Intel completed
the beta version of its instruction set for
the Katmai processor and is now
working with more than 50
software-game developers to optimize
their code for 70 single-instruction,
multiple-data (SIMD) floating-point
instructions, the company said. At the
same time, both Intel and Microsoft are
providing low-level compiler tools for
the new instruction set. The tools are
considered a critical ingredient that was
missing from Intel's previous MMX
development program.
Like other graphics-accelerator vendors
present at the Computer Game
Developers Conference here in Long
Beach, Calif., Intel (company profile)
said it hopes to woo 3-D game
developers to optimize their software for
what Intel expects to be the premier PC
platform for 1999. Such a system will
include the 100-MHz 440BX chip set, the
i740 3-D graphics processor, and a
Katmai processor running faster than 400
MHz, said Taufik Ma, independent
software vendor marketing manager for
Intel's Microprocessor 6 division, in
Hillsboro, Ore.
In 1996, Intel made a similar effort to
convince software developers to write
games geared for the MMX instruction
set, which consisted of 57 new SIMD
integer instructions. But the company said
it failed to provide the right tools to make
it easier for software developers.
"We learned a lot from MMX," Ma said.
"We didn't have compilers for MMX,
which wasn't too pleasant for developers
because they had to hand code
everything."
The Katmai compilers, which will be
available later this year, will be offered
as a plug-in for Microsoft's Visual C++
suite. The compiler will include
instrinsics, which the company said will
give developers the ability to write in C
with nearly the same efficiency as
hand-coded assembly language. A related
tool called VTune will let the program
make use of the parallelism of SIMD
instructions, Ma said.
What's more, Santa Clara, Calif.-based
Intel will provide similar compiler tools
for the MMX instruction set in July. Intel
has already signed on 100 companies,
Ma said.
Ma said Intel has put three times more
resources into Katmai compared with its
MMX development efforts. This includes
more engineering support, coding tools,
authoring tools, libraries, and
development platforms for software
companies. Some of the software
companies it has engaged with include
Westwood Studios, id Software,
Microsoft, LucasArts Entertainment,
Activision, Definition Six, Shiny
Entertainment, and Black Isle Studios.
Meanwhile, Intel has released a software
developer's kit for its i740 3-D graphics
processor. The company said the new
tools will enable software developers to
monitor how systems partition the 3-D
processing load between the graphics
processor and central processing unit and
make adjustments for better performance
and system balance. |
