Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!rosenblg
From: rosenblg@cmcl2.NYU.EDU (Gary J. Rosenblum)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: Re: DEC 58xx installed?
Message-ID: <51479@cmcl2.NYU.EDU>
Date: 12 Nov 90 06:06:05 GMT
References: <125707@linus.mitre.org> <11681@sybase.sybase.com> <3793@vela.acs.oakland.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: New York University
Lines: 18

We have a DECsystem 5820 running Ultrix 4.0.  I'm not pleased with it.

DEC has done everything but admit publicly there's a bug in the SMP code - 
in practical terms, the machine is not 1.7-8 times as fast with two cpus as 
it is with one.  In fact, performance is very disappointing.  

Speaking with some techies at DEC, and someone involved with the 5500 line,
the general consensus is that they f**ked up royally (a quote from one of
them).  There's an XMI<->CPU bottleneck to begin with.  When asked what
people with 5820's should do, one response was "Buy a 5500".  I don't have 
Ultrix 4.1 yet (another problem), so I don't know if it fixes things.

Nice things about it -  I share my VMS cluster's tape drives, saving lots o'
money.  The TU81+ is not worth buying.  

Gary J. Rosenblum	
UNIX Systems Manager			rosenblg@nyu.edu
New York University			gary@nyu.edu