Guru
Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964
| Posted: 03:13pm 24 May 2026 |
I think they referred to it as a "coprocessor" as that's what it sort of does. They also refer to it as an "accelerator", which is probably a more accurate description.
Oh, the evils that are benchmarks!
a) make sure that the compiler for your chosen hardware is optimised to the hilt for it.
b) use a general purpose compiler for your competition's hardware, preferably a non-optimising one that generates lots of labels.
c) bask in the glory that comes from one-upmanship!
If you hand the accelerator a single command it will probably be faster than any true "math coprocessor" at the same CPU clock speed. Anything more complex and it will get increasingly slower, but by how much may not always be relevant.