Just wondering if it makes a difference as to which apps are run based on whether the CPU supports SSE3 or just SSE2. Seems to me I recall there was something about that in the Lunactics installer. The reason I ask is that the BOINC client and the 0.41 installer identify both my main machines as being SSE2 only, where CPU-Z indicates SSE3 is supported on both as well.
I've got full info on both machines I can post if appropriate, but the short version is one is a P4 Prescott with 925XE chipset and the other a Pentium-D Presler with 945 chipset. Both are 3.4ghz, on XP3.
No big thing, but I found it curious and thought I'd ask here in case any of you gurus know the answer.
SSE3 is also known as PNI (Prescott New Instructions):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE3)
Claggy
Gotcha. So BOINC and presumably 0.41 installer did pick it up correctly.
Reason I'm asking is that my appInfo file shows no reference to AKv8c_Bb_r1846_winx86_SSE3x.exe
but rather contains
AKv8c_Bb_r1846_winx86_SSE2x.exe
Am I missing something?
Thanks!
The only thing you're missing is that the 0.41 installer doesn't contain an SSE3 build. The Akv8c builds included are SSE2, SSSE3 (requires Core 2 or better), and AVX. Other builds were made, but Alpha testing at Lunatics didn't show the SSE3 build significantly better than the SSE2 build on any equipment the active testers have.
Those other builds are available at Lunatics for download, however, and it is certainly possible the SSE3 build would be better on Prescott or Pentium-D. I wouldn't expect a large improvement, and modifying the app_info.xml can be a little tricky. If you decide to try it and are unsure about anything, ask!
Joe
Awesome. Thanks for the quick feedback on this, Joe.
Much appreciated! That explains a lot.
For now, I think I'll just leave it as-is, at least until I have a better understanding of how it all fits together. If the performance improvement would be slight, it doesn't sound like it would make sense to move away from the stock install. If, on the other hand, I could contribute to the effort by trying it out, I'd be glad to do so.
Thanks again!
Jim ..