Thread (7 messages) 7 messages, 3 authors, 2009-10-19

Re: Mixing hard and soft floating point?

From: Wolfgang Denk <hidden>
Date: 2009-10-18 13:10:06

Dear Joakim Tjernlund,

In message [ref] you wrote:
quoted
If the application is really using FP instructions a lot, then there
is a huge difference between using soft-float and MATH_EMU; I
remember test cases where soft-float was faster by factors of
500...1000.
Ouch, I had no idea that it could be that much.
Well, consider really simple operations, like FP add or similar, and
compare the library code for the soft-FP implementationagainst the
cost for a trap into the kernel. Or even worse - a consider simple
assignment ("float x, foo; x = foo"); with soft-float: "lis 9,x@ha;
stw 3,x@l(9)" = 2 instructions, with MATH_EMU "lis 9,x@ha; stfs
1,x@l(9)" = 1 insn plus a kernel trap.

For real numbers, run a benchmark that models your real use case.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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