Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!orca.wv.tek.com!frip!andrew
From: andrew@frip.WV.TEK.COM (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m88k
Subject: Re: Fastest 88k
Message-ID: <9428@orca.wv.tek.com>
Date: 1 Nov 90 17:50:20 GMT
References: <1172@iceman.jcu.oz>
Sender: news@orca.wv.tek.com
Reply-To: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville, Oregon
Lines: 28

C Adams (cpca@iceman.jcu.oz) writes:

	"I have recently hear about an advertisement claiming 60 MIPS
	for an 88k based machine (from motorola).  I find this figure
	way too high, at least for a single CPU system."

Motorola's current line of systems (based on their VME188) come with
one, two, or four CPUs on a card.  The 60 MIPS number no doubt comes
from multiplying some per-CPU number by either two or four.

It's a nice card, but with a cache disadvantage: since it implements a
single M bus, there can be no more than eight 88200 (CMMU) chips.  As
you increase the number of CPUs, you decrease the number of CMMUs per
CPU, and the cache miss rate climbs noticeably for large application
programs.

John Mashey (mash@mips.COM) writes:

	"The fastest 88K for which SPEC numbers have been published was
	the 33MHz Motorola 8612, with 2 88200 chips, which was
	published Winter 1990."

We had a 33MHz system with eight 88200 chips, but never got a chance to
run SPEC, sigh.  Those systems are now powered down and are sitting in
a sealed building on the Tektronix Wilsonville campus.

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew)    [UUCP]
                        (andrew%frip.wv.tek.com@relay.cs.net)   [ARPA]