Comment by mhast
2 days ago
Jim Keller goes into some detail about what difference the ISA makes in general in this clip https://youtu.be/yTMRGERZrQE?si=u-dEXwxp0MWPQumy
Spoiler, it's not much because most of the actual execution time is spent in a handful of basic OPs.
Branch prediction is where the magic happens today.
Jim Keller has to say that.
The stage is yours if you choose to refute him.
>Spoiler, it's not much because most of the actual execution time is spent in a handful of basic OPs.
Yet, on a CISC ISA, you still have to support everything else, which is essentially cruft.
Does that matter? I lean towards the yes-the-ISA-matters camp, but I'm also under the impression that most silicon is dark.