Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!oliveb!mipos3!omepd!mipon2.intel.com!mcg From: mcg@mipon2.intel.com (Steven McGeady) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: 55 MIPS & 66 MIPS Message-ID: <5274@omepd.UUCP> Date: 28 Nov 89 02:08:27 GMT References: <1358@bnr-rsc.UUCP> Sender: news@omepd.UUCP Reply-To: mcg@mipon2.intel.com (Steven McGeady) Lines: 35 In article <1358@bnr-rsc.UUCP>, schow@bcarh61.bnr.ca (Stanley T.H. Chow) writes: > > Intel has gone the SuperScalar route. Their i960CA is said to be > 66 MIPS @ 33 MHz. They have put the cleverness into multiple > execution units. > > Here is the $64,000 question: > > Which part is easier to integrate into a real system? > > Please note that we have concrete real examples here. Theoratical > discussion is nice, but real data-points are more interesting. Here is a "real data-point". Heurikon Corp. (Madison,WI) is now selling 960CA boards with on-board SCSI, Ethernet (82596), 4Mb DRAM (near-zero wait-state, i.e. 1-0-0-0 read, 0 ws write), multiple serial lines, VME bus interface, VSB bus, and more for $2995 in quantity 100. All this fits on a standard (small, not Sun-sized) VME board. > Other interesting question: > > Which system has a larger "domain" over which it actually > achives quoted figures? The 960CA is an embedded controller. It contains 4-channel DMA, dynamic, per-region bus sizing, sophisticated interrupt control, etc. I would suspect that it would perform admirably in most embedded applications. The MIPS R6000 is a *system*. It runs UNIX very well, apparently. The 960CA does not now and will never run UNIX, as it lacks a memory management unit. S. McGeady Intel Corp. Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com