2 questions about the palomino

[johnsonsjohnson]

1. will it work with an IWILL KA-266 motherboard
2. what is "improved branch prediction" going to do in simple terms (basically does the Palomino offer more advantages over the tbird then just clock speed and if so in what way)

thanks

 

[Adul]

The current branch prediction unit in the tbird is rather poor. The k6 series had much better branch prediction. So this is one of those things AMD is addressing. By improving the branch prediction, you reduce the amount of misspredictions which cause a hit in performance.


Also, AMD has state all you will need is a bios update to run the palomino.

 

[Rand]

1. Yes, it SHOULD run it you mobo.
2. In layman's terms without going in-depth upon what the BPU is suffice to say that it will increase performance.

As Adul stated the BPU on the current Athlon is one of it's weakest points and was the subject of much debate when the K7 core was first introduced. in contrast the BPU on the old K6 has long been considered one of the best.