Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: MIPS (was Re: Stellar 7 re-release) Message-ID: <1990Dec12.064925.28609@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Date: 12 Dec 90 06:49:25 GMT References: <9012120353.AA26625@apple.com> Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Lines: 12 Don't trust that figure. A 1 mhz 6502 is more like .3 _Native_ MIPS. Native MIPS is how many of the machines' own instructions can be executed in a second. This rating is a good way to rate the average number of clock cycles an instruction takes, but as a cross-CPU performance index it is absolutely useless. Workstations are often rated versus VAX MIPS, i.e. their performance is compared to that of a VAX 11/780 running at (yow) 1 mhz. The VAX had 32 bit registers, so a 6502 would quite likely do really poor in VAX equivalent MIPS (officially VUPS, for VAX Unit Of Processing or something like that). Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu