https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=104600
--- Comment #2 from Andrew Pinski <pinskia at gcc dot gnu.org> --- Here is another example even with 32bit int and 64bit long: #define vector __attribute__((vector_size(8))) long f(int a, int b) { vector int t = {a, b}; return (long)t; } void f1(long *t1, int a, int b) { vector int t = {a, b}; *t1 = (long)t; } void f2(long *t1, int a, int b) { vector int t = {a, b}; *t1 = ((long)t) + 1; } long f_1(unsigned a, unsigned b) { long t = (((unsigned long)a) << 32) | (unsigned long)b; return (long)t; } void f1_1(long *t1, unsigned a, unsigned b) { long t = (((unsigned long)a) << 32) | (unsigned long)b; *t1 = (long)t; } void f2_1(long *t1, unsigned a, unsigned b) { long t = (((unsigned long)a) << 32) | (unsigned long)b; *t1 = ((long)t) + 1; } ----- CUT ---- For f2 and f2_1 we have: movd %esi, %xmm0 movd %edx, %xmm1 punpckldq %xmm1, %xmm0 movq %xmm0, %rsi addq $1, %rsi movq %rsi, (%rdi) vs salq $32, %rsi movl %edx, %edx orq %rdx, %rsi addq $1, %rsi movq %rsi, (%rdi) It all depends on how fast move between GPRs and SSE register sets is vs doing it all in the integer. I only think this should be done for the 2x size case and nothing more.