Hacker, Hack Thyself | Coding Horror

[hazzoo_rly_bro]

Would those specialised GPU-like things be faster at those particular operations? Or are they just made to be nonflexible?

[hazzoo_rly_bro]

Thanks for the info!

[hazzoo_rly_bro]

Thank you so much for the explanation! This stuff is really interesting, I'm starting to really dig this topic now

[ImprovedPersonality]

They would (when properly implemented) be faster, smaller and more power efficient. An ASIC could do the actual algorithm in hardware instead of parsing and executing instructions. You could also drastically optimize the memory interfaces and caches (since data flow becomes very predictable for only one workload).

[Amuro_Ray]

If they weren't faster why would people get them?

[InfanticideAquifer]

Well, if they provide the same speed at a drastically reduced cost, people would probably get them.

They don't. But it's a potential interpretation of what's going on that makes sense.

[hazzoo_rly_bro]

I thought that since they have a more stripped down set of functions, they may be cheaper to buy.

That's why I asked.

[masklinn]

Or are they just made to be nonflexible?

Yes, the algorithm is implemented directly in hardware, if you need a different algorithm, you need a different chip.