Asianometry Legends of the RISC Wars
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Dec 7, 2025 Dive into the intense world of the RISC Wars, where giants like IBM and Intel clashed alongside fledgling startups. Discover the birth of RISC from IBM's 801 project and the contributions of Berkeley and Stanford. Learn about MIPS’ breakthroughs, DEC's Alpha ambitions, and the rise of PowerPC amidst fierce market competition. Explore how Intel grappled with adaptation while x86 forged ahead, ultimately reclaiming dominance. A gripping tale of innovation, rivalry, and the ever-shifting landscape of computing technology.
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ISA Versus Microarchitecture
- The ISA defines a CPU's verbs while microarchitecture is the implementation accent that affects performance.
- RISC argued for simpler ISAs and complex compilers to trade hardware complexity for software sophistication.
IBM 801 Sparked RISC Research
- John Koch and Al Chang built the IBM 801 after blaming microcode for slow performance in a telecom switch project.
- The 801 prototype outperformed a high-end IBM 3033 on integer benchmarks and inspired university RISC projects.
Optimize The 80/20 Of Instructions
- Studies showed a small subset of instructions account for most executions, so optimizing the common ones yields big gains.
- Berkeley and Stanford translated that into RISC: slim down the ISA and optimize the hot path.