Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!aries!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@aries.uiuc.edu (Doug McDonald)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Evans and Sutherland quits the superbusiness
Message-ID: <1989Nov22.192816.10027@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 22 Nov 89 19:28:16 GMT
References: <1128@m3.mfci.UUCP> <1989Nov22.175128.24910@ico.isc.com>
Sender: news@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Reply-To: mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Doug McDonald)
Distribution: usa
Organization: School of Chemical Sciences, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lines: 22

In article <1989Nov22.175128.24910@ico.isc.com> rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn) writes:
>In article <1128@m3.mfci.UUCP>, rodman@mfci.UUCP (Paul Rodman) writes:
>>...Let's ignore the fact that the Killer Micros usually don't have a
>> decent memory system or I/O system...
>
>
>(Actually, what I've seen suggests that the memory systems are usually
>pretty well balanced, and that the I/O systems are out of balance to about
>the same extent they are on most machines...I/O has been in catch-up mode
>for years.)
>
I contend that there is no such thing as an "out of balance IO system".
Certainly there is for memory vs. cpu. But there is an extremely
wide range of needed ratios for io vs cpu power. Certain business
uses need vast IO compared to CPU, some scientific uses need
99.999% cpu and .001% IO. 

There is an obvious needed market for a powerful CPU with far less IO
power than a Cray or an IBM mainframe.  One person's "balance" is
anothers overkill - both ways, of course.

Doug McDonald