Difference between CPUTYPE= in /etc/make.conf

[Jason Henson]

On 01/18/05 11:01:32, Gerard Seibert wrote:
> I have tried googling for this information, but without any concrete
> results. In the '/etc/make.conf' file, what are the advantages  
> between
> using the following declaration?
> 
> CPUTYPE=i686
> 
> Versus
> 
> CPUTYPE=p4
> 
> In the above scenario, the number following the letter 'p' could be
> between one and four. Does it make a discernable difference?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Gerard E. Seibert
> gerard-seibert at rcn.com
> 
> "I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.'
> 
> 	-- Anonymous
>

The 686 covers a few processors including the athlon, p4, p3?, and  
maybe some others.  If you set p4 you should produce code that runs  
faster on a p4 than 686 would.  Also the code might run slower or not  
at all on the p3 and athlon.  SSE3 is an example of code used on a p4  
not found in other 686s(I think this is still the case) that would case  
the program not to run on other cpu types, but run faster on a p4.
BTW, iirc p4=pentium4 and it atleast used to be broken and droped back  
to some lower setting.