22007E/0 — November 1999

AMD Athlon™ Processor x86 Code Optimization

Appendix G

DirectPath versus

VectorPath Instructions

Select DirectPath Over VectorPath Instructions

Use DirectPath instructions rather than VectorPath instructions. DirectPath instructions are optimized for decode and execute efficiently by minimizing the number of operations per x86 instruction, which includes ‘register register op memory’ as well as ‘register register op register’ forms of instructions.

DirectPath Instructions

The following tables contain DirectPath instructions, which should be used in the AMD Athlon processor wherever possible:

Table 25, “DirectPath Integer Instructions,” on page 220

Table 26, “DirectPath MMX™ Instructions,” on page 227 and Table 27, “DirectPath MMX™ Extensions,” on page 228

Table 28, “DirectPath Floating-Point Instructions,” on page 229

All 3DNow! instructions, including the 3DNow! Extensions, are DirectPath and are listed in Table 23, “3DNow!™ Instructions,” on page 217 and Table 24, “3DNow!™ Exten- sions,” on page 218.

Select DirectPath Over VectorPath Instructions

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AMD x86 manual DirectPath versus VectorPath Instructions, DirectPath Instructions