Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wang!bu-tyng!3letter!cory
From: cory@3letter.MV.COM (Cory Kempf)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Price/Performance of DECsystems
Keywords: Price/Performance, DECsystem 5400, DECsystem 5810
Message-ID: <294@3letter.MV.COM>
Date: 4 May 90 01:56:04 GMT
References: <414@dg.dg.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Three Letter Co. Nashua, NH.
Lines: 24

pchen@dg.dg.com (Paul Chen) writes:

>Maybe I am just being naive, but I just don't understand this.
>A DECsystem 5400 has the SPECmark of 11.8, and the base listed price
>is $30,000.  A DECsystem 5810 has the SPECmark of 11.3, and the base
>listed price is $75,000.  Why is a system that has a lower SPECmark
>selling for TWO AND A HALF times of the price of a system with a
>higher SPECmark?  Can anyone give me an answer?

A computer is more than just a chip... The biggest difference between the
two systems is not the CPU, but the BUS.  If I remember correctly, the 
5810 is supposed to produce 18 VUPS, while the 5400 is supposed to do 16 VUPS.
The 5810 is supposed to have a MUCH higher I/O bandwidth than the 5400,
as well as the possibility of ADDING a second (and in the future 3rd and fourth)
processor card to generate 36 VUPS (or 54, or 72).  Ultrix needs to be fixed
before more than 2 CPU's can be present.  The Bus gives out at 4 cards.

The same box with VAX processor cards can handle six CPU boards.

+C
-- 
Cory Kempf				I do speak for the company (sometimes).
Three Letter Company						603 883 2474
email: cory@3letter.mv.com, harvard!zinn!3letter!cory