Haswell Questions

[Spydermag68]

I have been thinking about upgrading my computer lately to i7-4790 or 4790k, but with the TXS problem I think I might hold off. I know 99.9% of the programs out there do not execute this instruction but I tend to hold on to my computers for 6 to 7 years and I program regularly at home since that is what I do for a day job.

Can some one explain what Intel is doing to make sore that instruction is not executed on current chips. Is it a BIOS update or something else?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Its a BIOS update. But it depends on your mobo manufactor. The OS can also load microcode to disable TSX.

As of today the amount of programs using TSX is basicly 0.

Also note you need an OS that supports TSX. Windows 7 and Windows 8 aint among them for example. Not sure if even Windows 8.1 supports it.

And there are 2 types of TSX. RTM and HLE mode. RTM code for example wont work on any non TSX capable CPUs at all. While HLE code is also supproted on legacy CPUs.