ribitch
10-05-2002, 08:44 PM
http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/oct02/articles/pcnotes1002.asp
This behaviour isn't a bug as such, more an unfortunate side-effect; and it isn't just a Pentium 4 issue either, since Intel's Pentium II, III, and Celeron ranges also have a similar denormal mode, as does AMD's Athlon range. However, the Pentium 4 does seem to generate more problems in practice as its denormal threshold is higher, meaning that it's more likely to occur in real-world situations. The occasional denormal calculation is no cause for concern, but the CPU load can increase by a huge amount when all the processed numbers are denormal.
This behaviour isn't a bug as such, more an unfortunate side-effect; and it isn't just a Pentium 4 issue either, since Intel's Pentium II, III, and Celeron ranges also have a similar denormal mode, as does AMD's Athlon range. However, the Pentium 4 does seem to generate more problems in practice as its denormal threshold is higher, meaning that it's more likely to occur in real-world situations. The occasional denormal calculation is no cause for concern, but the CPU load can increase by a huge amount when all the processed numbers are denormal.