[GRLUG] Pentium 4 and Gentoo Linux?

[Greg Folkert]

On Wed, 2013-06-19 at 22:52 -0400, Kyle wrote:
> On 06/19/2013 08:44 PM, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
> > On Wed, 2013-06-19 at 18:11 -0500, Philip Robar wrote:
> >> I’m hoping that someone, like Mike Mol - our resident Gentoo advocate,
> >> might know the answer to this (and save me hours of experimenting):
> >> Will compiling Gentoo specifically for Intel P4/Netburst with GCC,
> >> Intel or LLVM make a noticeable difference on a general purpose
> >> desktop as opposed to using a generically compiled distribution?
> > I know next to nothing about Gentoo... but I'd be willing to wager lunch
> > that the answer is "No way, no difference".  I've seen more bugs
> > introduced by eager-to-optimize setups than I have performance
> > improvements.  Compiler optimization performance improvements are pretty
> > much limited to code written specifically to demonstrate they make
> > things go faster.
> >
> > Note that you said ****"difference on a general purpose desktop"***.
> > Special cases, especially those involved math / real-data-processing
> > might be different, but a "general purpose desktop"... no way, no
> > difference.  You're more likely to break something.
> >
> > [snip]
> 
> 
> Can't answer for Netburst, either, but I can say that I run Gentoo and
> haven't seen much of a change in performance with compiling specifically
> for my CPU (an i7) over a generic x86_64 build.  However, Gentoo lets
> you compile out all kinds of junk you don't want or use by changing your
> USE flags, and that, for me anyway, makes a significant difference in
> speed and power consumption vs. a generic "cram every feature in, just
> in case it's ever needed" build.

Perception is 90% of the perceived benefit.

-- 
greg at gregfolkert.net
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"A man of personality can formulate ideals, but only a man of character
can achieve them."
    -- Herbert Read
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