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From: 6600sirt@hub.UUCP (Mike O'Brien)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer
Subject: Re: How is a 68000 as fast as an 80386??
Message-ID: <4405@hub.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 90 07:59:07 GMT
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> Am I the only one that thinks these numbers look awfully optimistic?
> I've used PC's and VAXes for quite some time, and my informal
> benchmarks would give about 3 VAX MIPS to a 25 MHz 386;  surely
> the 486 isn't 5 times faster than a 386 at the same clock speed?!
> The rags I've seen make the 486 about 2-3 times faster than a 386,
> maximum (some applications more like 1.5), which would make a 486
> AT MOST a 10 VAX MIPS machine, and probably more like a 6 VAX MIPS
> machine.
> 						Bruce C. Wright

First of all, you must remember that all 25 MHz 386's are not
even close to the same speed.  For example, does your 386 have
a 128k cache?  You can bet that ALR had one when they did their
benchmark.

More importantly though, the big speed improvements with the 486
come with protected mode.  So if you're using DOS, you won't see
much.  Of course, the people hyping the 486 aren't gonna advertise
this!


Michael O'Brien
6600sirt@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu