[rdtsc]

It is needed because it is designed to replace all those.

Imagine your wife had Hugh Jackman, Michael Phelps and Bill Gates as her husbands in some strange polyamory type setup (hey you brought your wife into the conversation first ;-) ). And then one day, all those husbands disappeared and she was left with you.

[D_Alex]

Well, she'd have a lot less ironing to do... Look, I think this analogy has gone too far already!!!