*BSD News Article 86813


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From: patrick mcandrew <pmcandre@tiac.net>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Re: Sparc vs. x86 speed (was Re: Linux vs BSD)
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 07:19:04 -0500
Organization: Empire.Net, Inc. (603) 889-1220
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mumford@no-spam.netcom.com wrote:
> 
> In article <5c8b0o$313$1@capsicum.wsrcc.com>,
> Wolfgang Rupprecht <wolfgang@dailyplanet.wsrcc.com> wrote:
> >Ruediger Koch <rkoch@samart.co.th> writes:
> >>regularly. For the mailserver, we replaced a Sparcstation 20 with 64MB
> >>by a P133 with 32MB. The load went down from 1-2 to 0.05-0.3! Two of the
> >>fucking expensive Suns are catching dust now.

SparcStation 20 doesnt narrow it down, what cpu did it have as there are
40+ cpu
combinations....

> >I'd like to echo those sentiments.  For over 10 years I've been
> >running nothing but BSD machines.  For the longest of times the only
> >serious choice was Sun/SunOS (Vax/BSD always tied you to their vastly
> >overpriced peripherals).

Sun machines have better uptime and support for mission critical apps
than any
other machines do on the market, however afew, namely hd, sgi, and dec
are getting 
closer.

> >I was quite suprised to hear a coworker someone claim that a
> >multi-hour compile of a large source tree (on an ss5) could be done in
> >1/4th the time on a PentiumPro under NetBSD.  (Yea right!)  Well it

no, the p150 is almost twice as fast as a 110mhz microsparc, but keep in
mind, 
the microsparc beats it in fpu intensive apps, such as CAD/CAM.

> >was true.  As a matter of fact a PPro-150 could do the compile in
> >approx 3/4 the user time that an SS20 could do it in.  That was quite

again, be more specific when talking about multiprocessor machines, ss20
doesnt narropw it down, it probably only had a 40mhz super-sparc2 in it,
if it had 2 75mhz
super-parc2's in it, it would beat the best pentium on the market for
anything.

> >a shocker.  Checking the benchmarks of the two machines
> >(eg. SpecFoo's) showed a roughly similar speed ratio.
  
> *sounds of snickering coming from Sun*
> All of this is quite true... it is still very impressive that an architecure
> that is 5+ years old from Sun can match up with the current stuff coming from
> intel.  Anyway, I believe I read somewhere that the last of the SS20's were

where did you hear this bullshit?? SS20's support there 32bit chips like
the hyper
sparc and supersparc, they will stop shipping the ss20's when they stop
making those
chips.

> being shipped form Sun... they're really pushing the ultra line now.  A more
> fair comparison would be to compare modern CPU's from both companies.. compare
> the Ultra Sparc against the PPro.
>

the ultra is a much better chip than anything that runs in the ss20
class machines.
clocked now at 250mhz (or even 300mhz i dont know) here are the results.
keep in mind the 141mhz ultra sparc was the first ultra ever put out, i
dont think
it is fair to compare that to a brand new Pentium Pro 150mhz.
another reason why some many internet servers are suns and the military
+ phone companies uses them is becuase of reliability and support.
they run one of the most advanced unixes of this century. solaris 2.5 on
a Ultra 2200(2 200mhz cpus) can hold off 800 time sharing users, not
just reading mail, etc.
but not compiling 10,000 line programs, either, at that rate, it could
only support, i guess around 20. the machine had 1 gig of ram.
 
> >
> >    specint-95:
> >       SS5:  85Mhz  1.37
this is a 85mhz microsparc2, a design thats been around for 8 years.

> >       SS20: 150Mhz 3.77

this is a 150mhz hypersparc mod. this design has been around for 3+
years.

 
> They have 4.02 listed at http://www.specbench.org for the SS20 150Mhz
> 
> >       PPRO: 150Mhz 4.27

the ppro design came out in what, late 1995, and look how good these
older designs did(above)
 
>         Ultra: 140Mhz 4.66,5.41 (two numbers are listed)
>         Ultra: 170Mhz 5.56,6.26
now your comparing new designs to new designs, and the performance
changes. 
 
yes, i am a sun supporter, i am becuase i know how reliable they are.

pat