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From: Ralf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>
To: Jeffrey Baitis <baitisj@evolution.com>
Cc: linux-mips@linux-mips.org, Adam_Kiepul@pmc-sierra.com,
	"Mr. Brian R. Gunnison" <brian@evolution.com>,
	Francis Yu <francisyu@synergyrep.com>,
	Johnny Lam <Johnny_Lam@pmc-sierra.com>
Subject: Re: Newbie R5K questions -- -mips2 vs -mips4; is n32 ABI supported by Linux?
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 23:52:48 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20031117225248.GA15868@linux-mips.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1069106666.1829.323.camel@powerpuff.evo1.pas.lab>

On Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 02:04:26PM -0800, Jeffrey Baitis wrote:

> I'm currently trying to increase performance on our PMC-Sierra RM5231
> system by taking advantage of the MIPS IV ISA. This processor has a
> 32-bit address bus interface with 64-bit GPRs, so I guess that the
> choice of -mabi=n32 is ideal for this processor.

In addition to what Daniel just said ...

N32 requires a 64-bit kernel to run on which is significantly larger
thereby causing more cache misses so a 64-bit kernel is often slower.
On the kernel side a 64-bit kernel is drastically better at handling
large amounts of memory, so once a 32-bit kernel needs highmem the
64-bit kernel will win the race.  Often these effects influence
performance more than what you might gain from exploiting a new ISA.

  Ralf

      parent reply	other threads:[~2003-11-17 22:53 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2003-11-17 22:04 Newbie R5K questions -- -mips2 vs -mips4; is n32 ABI supported by Linux? Jeffrey Baitis
2003-11-17 22:29 ` Daniel Jacobowitz
2003-11-17 22:52 ` Ralf Baechle [this message]

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