25112 Rev. 3.06 September 2005

Software Optimization Guide for AMD64 Processors

9.9Storing Floating-Point Data in MMX™ Registers

Optimization

Avoid storing floating-point data in MMX registers unless using 3DNow! instructions.

Application

This optimization applies to:

32-bit software

64-bit software

Rationale

Using MOVDQ2Q or MOVQ2DQ to shuffle integer data between MMX and XMM registers is useful to relieve register pressure; however, doing so with floating-point data can impact performance. The impact is greater if the floating-point data is denormalized.

Chapter 9

Optimizing with SIMD Instructions

209

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AMD 250 manual Storing Floating-Point Data in MMX Registers, 209