Both Microsoft Visual C++.NET and Visual C++ 6.0 provide full support for Advanced Micro Devices processors, including support for 3DNow! Technology, Enhanced 3DNow! and MMX instruction sets. Features such as 3DNow! Compiler Intrinsics & In-Line Assembly, Macro Assembler (MASM), Run-Time Aligned Memory Management, and Debugging and Disassembly, are native to the Visual C++.NET compiler and are available via a Processor Pack for Visual C++6.0. These features will enable easier, straight forward and more productive code optimization for the AMD Athlon and Duron family of processors as well as for the K6-family (including embedded versions).

Please click here to download Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Processor Pack

Microsoft, Visual C++, Visual Studio are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

The following "OpTimer" examples demonstrate the use of 3DNow! Compiler Intrinsics and In-Line Assembly in a test program that can be used as a tool to determine the optimization quality of a function. For each of the examples, expand the .Zip archives, and open the OpTimer.dsw workspace to view an unrolled C, an optimized Inline Assembly, and an Intrinsic Implementation of a 4 x 4 matrix transformation (Example 1) or multiplication (Example 2). A 3 x 3 Matrix Addition and detailed documentation on the "OpTimer" test program are available in the AMD Athlon™ SDK.

*By downloading any of the software from this page, you agree to be bound by the terms of the software license agreement.

The archived examples demonstrate the use of 3DNow! Compiler Intrinsics. The intrinsics _m_to_float and _m_from_float require Microsoft Visual Studio.NET.

This memcpy() code is optimized for AMD Athlon and Duron processors. It uses MMX instructions and prefetch, and employs "non temporal" memory writes on large blocks, which bypass the cache for better efficiency.

This code typically provides significantly improved performance, as indicated in the example graph. Performance gains are dependent on particular system specs, including CPU speed, CPU type, chip set, main memory type, and main memory speed. The data block size and alignment are also factors. Developers should test their applications to determine their exact performance benefit.

OpTimer with a 4x4 Matrix Multiplication - Source & Microsoft Developer Studio build project.