[GRLUG] FOR SALE - 16-Cores, 128GB RAM, 3.2TB, RAID, 2xFX4500 Graphics

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Sat, 2009-07-25 at 00:20 -0400, Bob Kline wrote:
> OK.  I've never used Gentoo, but 
> thought one of the motivations for
> doing so was that you compiled it
> for your specific processor, and got
> some kind of performance bump.

Maybe, but anyone who believes that is just crazy or very uninformed.
People run Gentoo because, for whatever reason legitimate or not, they
want to compile everything themselves.

> I do use Ubuntu, and upgrades of one
> sort or another come along regularly.
> But the packages are generic, and all
> one sees is "i386" or some kind of 64-bit
> package, and doesn't get whatever
> optimization might occur by compiling
> for your exact CPU.

Right, other binary distros work the same.  And for 99.44% (maybe
99.99%) of all software compiling for a specific CPU makes no difference
at all, certainly not a noticeable one.  In practice people who don't
understand what the compiler options *actually* mean have no business
messing with them and frequently generate software that is broken in
myriad subtle ways.  I've often wondered if I created a church of "The
Mighty -O3" if I could get rich from the tithes of Gentoo users who
believe that compiling everything with the gcc -O3 option makes their
i386sx16 run like a quad-core Xeon.  Note: I'm not implying Mr. Mol is a
member of that cult of loonies, he knows plenty about compilers [I'd
guess more than me] and I'm certain has chosen Gentoo for his own
reasons.

> That I can see, if one wants more
> performance, buy higher performance
> hardware.

Yep.  The cliche about blood from a turnip applies.