# 3dnow/sse and vectorc (was Windows verion...)

**URL:** <https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/3dnow-sse-and-vectorc-was-windows-verion/4930>\
**Category:** SDL Development\
**Created:** [August 19, 2001, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/3dnow-sse-and-vectorc-was-windows-verion/4930 "2001-08-19T11:35:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Erik\_Greenwald](https://discourse.libsdl.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Erik\_Greenwald](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/Erik_Greenwald)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/3dnow-sse-and-vectorc-was-windows-verion/4930/1 "2001-08-19T11:35:01Z")

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> Where can I find VectorC?  
> Does it cost money?

> **[Codeplay Software Ltd](https://codeplay.com/)**
>
> Codeplay is internationally recognized for expertise in Heterogeneous Systems, and has many years of experience in the development of Compilers, Runtimes, Debuggers, Test Systems, and other specialized tools.

> Mattias Engdeg?rd wrote:
> 
> > > (VectorC produces code that is at least 100% faster than Visual C++ code or  
> > > Intel C/C++)
> > 
> > I heard it was _at least_ 1000%

that doesn’t make sense. the SIMD shtuff lets you do basic arithmatic operations  
on multiple bits of data. The SIMD ‘register’ is 128b wide iirc, so if you had  
lots and lots of floats to add, you could do 4 at a time. I’d think that’d mean  
that if your program was strictly arithmatic on floats, you could get an almost  
4x speedup, tops. I d’no about you, but none of my hefty programs spend all their  
time adding or multiplying floats. 🙂 It’d be nice if gcc did that? (possibly  
I’m mistaken on one or more points… but I think that’s all that vectorC offers,  
and I think the athlons do things about the same way as intels for mmx/sse/3dnow)

[http://www.gamedev.net/reference/programming/features/vectorc/](http://www.gamedev.net/reference/programming/features/vectorc/) has some more  
info on the technologies and compiler.

```
    -Erik <@Erik_Greenwald> [http://math.smsu.edu/~erik]

```

The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily opinions. In all probability,  
they are random rambling, and to be ignored. Failure to ignore may result in  
severe boredom or confusion. Shake well before opening. Keep Refrigerated.

---

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**Author:** ![Mark\_Collins](https://discourse.libsdl.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Mark\_Collins](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/Mark_Collins)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/3dnow-sse-and-vectorc-was-windows-verion/4930/2 "2001-08-20T02:36:00Z")

</div>

“Erik Greenwald” wrote in message  
news:mailman.998246108.5742.sdl at [libsdl.org](http://libsdl.org)…

> > Where can I find VectorC?  
> > Does it cost money?
> 
> [http://www.codeplay.com](http://www.codeplay.com)

And yes, it does cost money.

> that doesn’t make sense. the SIMD shtuff lets you do basic arithmatic  
> operations  
> on multiple bits of data. The SIMD ‘register’ is 128b wide iirc, so if you  
> had  
> lots and lots of floats to add, you could do 4 at a time. I’d think that’d  
> mean  
> that if your program was strictly arithmatic on floats, you could get an  
> almost  
> 4x speedup, tops. I d’no about you, but none of my hefty programs spend  
> all their  
> time adding or multiplying floats. 🙂 It’d be nice if gcc did that?  
> (possibly  
> I’m mistaken on one or more points… but I think that’s all that vectorC  
> offers,  
> and I think the athlons do things about the same way as intels for  
> mmx/sse/3dnow)

It does more than vectorization (although the name can be a little  
misleading).

As well as the vectorization stuff, it also does automatic loop unrolling,  
prefetching, code re-ordering (that cane make things faster) and various  
other funky stuff.

The website has just been redone, and has much mroe details (and the  
benchmarks now have comparisons with Visual C++)–  
Mark ‘Nurgle’ Collins  
Developer Support - Codeplay Ltd.

> **[Codeplay Software Ltd](https://codeplay.com/)**
>
> Codeplay is internationally recognized for expertise in Heterogeneous Systems, and has many years of experience in the development of Compilers, Runtimes, Debuggers, Test Systems, and other specialized tools.