For what reasons are ARM CPUs slower than x86 CPUs?

[MyName13]

Why don't we still have ARM CPUs that are as powerful as x86 CPUs (at least in common usage scenarios)?

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, MyName13 said:

Why don't we still have ARM CPUs that are as powerful as x86 CPUs (at least in common usage scenarios)?

We do, if we look at e.g. Intel's Atom CPUs; ARM SoCs can well match those in performance and beat them in performance-per-watt. As for why there aren't ARM SoCs competing with proper desktop CPU-lineups, that's mostly because software-incompatibility: you'd need to emulate x86 CPUs to run all the most common software and games, and you'd then lose all the benefits of ARM.

[MyName13]

4 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

We do, if we look at e.g. Intel's Atom CPUs; ARM SoCs can well match those in performance and beat them in performance-per-watt. As for why there aren't ARM SoCs competing with proper desktop CPU-lineups, that's mostly because software-incompatibility: you'd need to emulate x86 CPUs to run all the most common software and games, and you'd then lose all the benefits of ARM.

Does anyone have any plans to make an ARM device that doesn't emulate x86 software?Wouldn't such thing have a good enough performance for an average consumer?I don't see why Microsoft is bothering with x86 to ARM emulation (unless they have abandoned that project).

[WereCatf]

Just now, MyName13 said:

Does anyone have any plans to make an ARM device that doesn't emulate x86 software?Wouldn't such thing have a good enough performance for an average consumer?I don't see why Microsoft is bothering with x86 to ARM emulation (unless they have abandoned that project).

If they run software that's compiled for ARM, then there's obviously no need to emulate anything. Linux has supported ARM for decades now and runs perfectly well, but all your Windows-games and stuff are compiled for x86, not ARM.

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, MyName13 said:

Does anyone have any plans to make an ARM device that doesn't emulate x86 software?Wouldn't such thing have a good enough performance for an average consumer?I don't see why Microsoft is bothering with x86 to ARM emulation (unless they have abandoned that project).

Windows ARM has the windows apps that arent emulated (if they are, they use a much less intensive translation layer). these Apps perform relativly well.

 

there are allready devices that doesnt emulate x86. those being tablets and phones. also current SOCs can do quite nice experiences

[TechyBen]

There are lots of native ARM devices. anything Android is one example.  

 

ARM has a Linux Distro or a few (I tried one for a while ). So anything natively compiled for that, or cross compiled/opensource or "run anywhere" like JAVA can run on it.

 

But if you want Windows software, as a lot of us do, then you need either X86/AMD64 or emulation... WINE being the convoluted and complicated exception.

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, TechyBen said:

WINE being the convoluted and complicated exception.

To clarify this for the OP: Wine allows one to run Windows-software under Linux, including games, but it doesn't turn x86-code into e.g. ARM-code -- you still need an x86-processor. It's just basically a reimplementation of a bunch of Windows DLLs for Linux, not an emulator.

[TechyBen]

6 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

To clarify this for the OP: Wine allows one to run Windows-software under Linux, including games, but it doesn't turn x86-code into e.g. ARM-code -- you still need an x86-processor. It's just basically a reimplementation of a bunch of Windows DLLs for Linux, not an emulator.

Yes true... and after just Googling... I found out Wine works on ARM in getting *Windows Arm software* working... MIND BLOWN!

[r4tch3t]

27 minutes ago, MyName13 said:

Why don't we still have ARM CPUs that are as powerful as x86 CPUs (at least in common usage scenarios)?

Billions upon billions upon billions of research into making x86 faster.

Plenty of research into Arm aswell, especially from a performance per watt perspective. But not the focused performance boosts x86 has had. 

[TechyBen]

7 minutes ago, r4tch3t said:

Billions upon billions upon billions of research into making x86 faster.

Plenty of research into Arm aswell, especially from a performance per watt perspective. But not the focused performance boosts x86 has had. 

Yeah, is it right most x86 chips are just made bigger too? There are a few PowerPC operators still making server grade chips, those IIRC are larger too... but most ARM, due to the power reduction, are used on small SOC etc, mobiles and controllers.

 

RISC V chips are similar to ARM, but going more opensource.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC-V